


The Princess and the Hufflepuff

by smartvpants



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1970s, Death Eaters, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Forbidden Love, Good Slytherins, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Post-Hogwarts, Prequel, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-28 12:41:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 76,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20426156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smartvpants/pseuds/smartvpants
Summary: Andromeda Black is an obedient daughter. As the middle child of well-connected purists, she's fully compliant with their plan: graduate with high-level NEWTs, marry Rabastan Lestrange, and settle into a life producing pure-blooded heirs. But there's no room in her parents' plan for her own Slytherin ambitions, and it's not the sense of purpose Andromeda would have chosen.Ted Tonks is a muggleborn. He's gotten too used to lying to his muggle friends about where he goes every school year. The handsome and charismatic Hufflepuff has a lot of friends, but he feels restless. Then Andromeda Black appears in the dungeon corridor where he's chosen to finish off his summer stash, and a fire is lit inside him.It's a bad idea: a muggleborn and the daughter of one of the "Sacred Twenty-Eight"-- especially as Voldemort and his followers become increasingly brazen in their attacks on muggles. But Andromeda and Ted can't keep their hands off of each other, and they're willing to risk it all for a tiny slice of happiness in an ever-darkening world.





	1. The Boy in the Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda and Ted are reintroduced.

The Princess and the Hufflepuff

by Viola Smart

* * *

** Chapter One:  
** **The Boy in the Shadows**

Children ran up the aisle of the train, laughing and shouting as the Hogwarts Express chugged along the Scottish countryside. A band of adventurous first years, certain to be sorted into Gryffindor, had begun a rousing mock Quidditch game in the aisle, a reenactment of this year’s championship between Ballycastle and Puddlemere. At the back of the train, a terrified muggleborn firstie watched in horror as his compartment companion unwittingly bit down on a pepper-imp and blew steam out of her ears. At the opposite end, Andromeda Black sat in the corner of a compartment with her sister, Narcissa, three of Narcissa’s friends (Olivia, Maria, and Viola), and Rabastan Lestrange. Narcissa chatted about the necklace her graduated boyfriend, Lucius, had bought for her this week while Andromeda buried her nose in a biography of a nineteenth century healer.

“Two years is simply too long to wait to be married. But Daddy says I must finish my NEWTs, even if I’ll never use the material afterward.”

“That’s terrible,” Olivia said, leaning close to look for flaws in the enormous diamond pendant. “You have your OWLs. It’s not like you’ll ever need a seventh year education married to Lucius Malfoy. It’s not like he will either.”

The girls giggled knowingly. Lucius Malfoy had so much money that it made money for him. Andromeda looked up over the top of her book at the chittering sound and tried not to roll her eyes. Andromeda and her younger sister had very different reasons for resenting their parents’ orders. For Narcissa, school was a waste of her time and energy because she would never use it. For Andromeda, school was a paradox: she was expected to score O’s in everything, but she wasn’t allowed career aspirations. She was never going to be a healer so long as her parents got their way.

Rabastan leaned close to her and whispered in her ear. “Too bad Malfoy’s a prissy little ponce,” he growled, and Andromeda had to stifle laughter. She didn’t really like Rabastan, despite the engagement ring on her finger that said otherwise, but she _hated _Lucius. She checked to make sure Narcissa was in a world of her own before replying, “They’re perfect for each other— they can say their wedding vows to a mirror.”

Rabastan snorted.

“What are you two plotting over there?” Maria asked. Andromeda could hardly tell Narcissa’s friends apart— all three rail thin with black hair, upturned noses, and hazel eyes. They weren’t sisters, but it had taken Andromeda years to realize that.

“Wedding dates,” Rabastan said, flashing a cocky smile and wrapping an arm around Andromeda’s shoulder. She tensed. Rabastan looked like a younger copy of his older brother, Rodolphus, who was married to Andromeda and Narcissa’s older sister, Bellatrix. Both Lestrange men had ice blue eyes, black slicked-back hair, and heavy, angled brows that made them look dangerous and unpredictable. And they were.

Narcissa launched into a vapid discussion of her plan for matching flowers to bridesmaid’s robes and Andromeda went back to her book. Rabastan withdrew his arm, reading her cold response.

As the train pulled up to the station, Andromeda slipped the Head Girl pin out of her bag and pinned it onto her standard black robes. She made her way down the aisle, glad that her new duties would give her a chance to leave her companions behind.

When the doors opened, it was chaos. The gamekeeper hollered over the tops of the sea of students, trying to corral the firsties. Andromeda caught an escaping cat and returned it to the gangly fourth year who was chasing it. Students loaded onto horseless carriages and then unloaded at the castle, bottle-necking at the doors as they rushed to get the best seats for the sorting ceremony. When the chaos subsided, Andromeda slipped into the nearest empty seat at the Slytherin House table, and waited.

“Oh wow, Andy! Where were you on the train?” Andromeda’s best friend, Pyxis, called from the Ravenclaw table. A witch with strawberry blonde hair, round cheeks, and plenty of freckles, Andromeda thought she looked rather like the sun. She was a direct contrast to Andromeda with hollow cheeks, a strong chin, gray eyes, and dusty, light brown hair. A shiny blue prefect pin gleamed on Pyxis’s chest.

“Sorry,” Andromeda said. “Cissy dragged me into a compartment with the triplets before I could find you.”

“That’s okay,” Pyxis said with a huge grin. “I was too busy snogging Sam to notice.”

Andromeda struck her index fingers together in a mock scolding gesture. The hall started to fall suddenly quiet, and Andromeda looked up to see that Albus Dumbledore had risen from his seat at the head table.

“Good evening. Before we begin the term, for which I am very excited, I would like to run over a few important announcements. A new tree has been planted on the castle grounds for the sake of academic curiosity. The Whomping Willow is incredibly dangerous and will kill anyone foolish enough to approach it. Please stay out of its reach.”

Students exchanged looks, wondering if he was kidding. He was not. “Mr. Filch has asked that I remind you that any and all Zonko’s items which leave a mess behind are forbidden.” A few annoyed sighs erupted around the room and Dumbledore smiled. “Be glad I talked him down from thumbscrews to detention for making such a mess.” The student body laughed.

Dumbledore gave a few more announcements about schedules before introducing the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, a older man who resembled a preying mantis named Professor Branch.

The sorting ceremony began with “Abbott, Howard,” as Andromeda strained over the crowd to get a glimpse of the Gryffindor her best friend was dating. She hadn’t seen him since May (as her parents considered his family to be blood traitors) and it took him a moment to spot Sam Oakby, now sporting a mustache. Gryffindor sat on the complete opposite of the Great Hall, and he was hard to see.

“Black, Sirius,” McGonagall called. Andromeda caught Narcissa’s eyes down the table. Narcissa held up a pair of crossed fingers. Their little cousin, Sirius, bounded up to the stool, his floppy black hair bouncing as he went.

The hat was still for a moment and Sirius smirked beneath it. When it tore open and roared “Gryffindor!” the hall erupted with mutters. Sirius cautiously lifted the hat from his head. His dark eyes found Andromeda’s from across the hall and the spring was gone from his step. His mother was going to be livid. Andromeda tried to give him an encouraging smile.

“Corker, Robin,” McGonagall called.

Andromeda watched her little cousin make his way to the Gryffindor table. A few kids, muggleborns mostly, offered him high-fives. The pureblooded Gryffindors looked as confused as Sirius did. Maybe she could have seen Ravenclaw (okay, not for Sirius, but Ravenclaws were acceptable in the eyes of the Black family) but when was the last time any of her relatives had been sorted into Gryffindor?

“Evans, Lily,” McGonagall called as a tiny girl with auburn hair and fierce green eyes approached the stool.

“Mudblood,” a boy next to Andromeda coughed.

“Really?” she said, shooting him a death glare. She understood that purism was popular among present company, but did people have to be so obsessed that they couldn’t just enjoy watching adorable firsties panic as they waited for house assignments?

A tiny paper airplane floated down the table and landed in front of Andromeda. She looked for the source and spotted Rabastan making meaningful eye contact as McGonagall called, “Pettigrew, Peter,” and a fat little boy hoisted himself onto the stool. Andromeda unfolded the paper to find an untidy note. “Meet me in the common room? Midnight?”

She thought through a few snarky responses before deciding on none of the above and incinerating the note on the empty plate in front of her with a flick of her want. Nothing, not even ashes, remained. Rabastan scowled. She knew what he had been hoping for, and she was going to delay physical affection for as long as she could manage.

The last Slytherin to join their table was a greasy-looking boy named Severus. When the ceremony wrapped up to over-the-top whooping from the Gryffindors, food appeared on the table and Andromeda tucked into a meal while the fifth years near her discussed Quidditch tryouts.

When her first plate was clean, Andromeda grabbed a yeast roll from the table and got to her feet. She shot a warning glance at a second year who was preparing to lob a piece of food at the Hufflepuff table and then slid onto a bench at the Ravenclaw table.

“Um, this isn’t your table,” a younger girl said, looking up from a slice of pie.

“Stuff it, Cornelia,” Pyxis said. “She’s Head Girl.” Pyxis glanced down at Andromeda’s finger and then abruptly grabbed her hand. “Holy crap!” She exclaimed, gawking at the enormous emerald. “Are you really going to marry Rabastan Lestrange?”

Andromeda pulled her hand away and hid it in her lap beneath the table. “That’s generally what the ring means. You’re supposed to be a Ravenclaw,” she joked. Pyxis’s housemates were watching. “Daddy set it up.”

Pyxis raised an eyebrow and stared at Andromeda for a while. They both knew what was running through her head. Rabastan was an arrogant bully and the only things he could converse about intelligently were medieval torture devices, poisons, and Quidditch. Andromeda had never even kissed him and had no desire to, but Pyxis had met Mr. and Mrs. Black on holiday fifth year, and she knew that Andromeda was not going to be asked if she approved of their choice. The alliance to the Lestrange family had already been cemented two years ago when Bellatrix had married his older brother, Rodolphus. If Andromeda backed out of the match, it would make Christmas dinners very awkward for everyone. And would her mother _ever _scream…

“So you’re still with Sam?”

“Mmhmm,” Pyxis said, kindly allowing Andromeda to change the topic. “Though he grew that horrid mustache. I told him I hate it, but you know his favorite Quidditch player has one…”

“Does the hair get in your mouth?” Andromeda asked in a hushed tone.

Pyxis nodded and burst out laughing. “It’s like sucking on a caterpillar.”

The two chatted while the meal wrapped up, exchanging rumors about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and discussing their summer essays for History of Magic. When the meal was dismissed, Andromeda reluctantly returned to her house table to make sure the prefects had everything under control. She had hallway duty first shift— making sure back-to-school shenanigans were properly policed.

As she pushed through the crowd to leave, someone grabbed her wrist. Andromeda snapped around, thinking she might need to make her lack of intentions with Rabastan more clear, but it was Sam Oakby instead.

“Er… what?” Andromeda asked, unclear how she was supposed to greet him. She pulled her hand back.

“Can you give this to Pyxis?” He asked, holding out a tightly-wrapped scroll.

“Why, what is it?” He was avoiding her gaze. Andromeda didn’t need to open it to know it wasn’t a cute poem or a meeting location. She felt sick. Snog a girl on the train and break her heart after dinner? She knocked his hand back. “Give it to her yourself you filthy bl—” she wanted to say the worst thing she could think to say, to hurt him as badly as he was about to hurt her friend, but even as her mother’s most condemning insult tumbled forth, it felt gross. “Bastard,” she corrected.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine, don’t. Bitch.”

Sam turned to disappear into the crowd and Andromeda wanted the last word, so she shouted, “Your mustache makes you look like a kid-toucher!” A gaggle of Gryffindor girls laughed and pointed at him. Andromeda had to get out of here.

~❀~

The start of term feast was always one of Ted's favorites. The meals were rich and plentiful, and he enjoyed catching up with his friends, discussing their summer breaks and recounting his own escapades. He wrote to his mates in Hufflepuff house regularly when he was on holiday, but nothing beat face-to-face interaction.

As a muggleborn, Ted always wondered what the firsties were thinking as they faced sorting. The old wizarding families all seemed to know each other by reputation and have some expectation of who would end up where. The wild cards were the muggleborns, like Ted. They almost never ended up in Slytherin, and they almost always looked terrified and confused.

Ted watched the last little one be sorted into Ravenclaw and then turned to his mate, Steven. Steven was Ted's closest friend at Hogwarts and captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team this year. Ted didn't play, but he and Steven were both outgoing guys who clicked. They got a real rhythm going when they were with a group, complementing each other's charm. Steven was a good looking black boy with a boyish smile and light brown eyes. His ears stuck out a little, but girls thought they were cute and they made him seem playful and trustworthy.

"Alright," Steven said, getting back to the conversation they had started before Dumbledore had kicked things off. Steven had talked about his big breakup with his longtime girlfriend and how she had suddenly stopped making time for him during the summer and started making time for a Gryffindor with a stupid mustache. Ted had gotten pieces of this in letters, but Steven was active and physical and not really a words guy. The account on paper hadn't been as thorough or dramatic. "What have you been doing?"

"Not much," Ted said. He hadn't taken his apparating test before summer break, so he hadn't been licensed all summer. He'd finally been able to take the test in August, but his mum had decided to take them on a trip the old-fashioned way, so he had been cut off from his friends from wizarding families who all used floo and portkeys and didn't drive automobiles. "We visited France and Portugal. Mum wanted one last holiday before I graduate. And I got a set of wheels," he said. "Uh, automobile. You know."

"And you didn't come show me?"

"Mate, that would be a hell of a drive," Ted said. Wizarding families tended to forget how far was too far for muggle means. "We spent about two weeks home. I barely got to see my friends from primary school." They all thought he was at some arts academy studying theater. It sucked to lie to them all the time, but he didn't want to lose touch completely, so he dodged the topic of school as much as he could and tolerated the deceit.

"Oh, hang on," Ted said, putting down his fork and reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small envelope with a wax seal meant to be a letter. "It's a letter from MJ," he said. Steven knew the code. One of Ted's muggle buddies had a great weed hookup and Ted needed to finish his summer stash. What better way than to give some of it to Steven?"

"Ah, thanks, send MJ my love," Steven said, winking.

They discussed Steven's plans for the Hufflepuff house team this year with a bunch of the other guys at the table. When the feast was over, Ted and Steven started towards the doors to head up to their house for the night. Steven stopped suddenly in his tracks and elbowed Ted.

"Oy!" Ted said, rubbing his arm.

"That's the wanker she started hooking up with," Steven said, pointing at a lean, sandy-blonde Gryffindor with a terrible mustache. He was talking to a Slytherin girl Ted recognized from his classes. She looked pissed.

"I'm gonna go talk to Amos about the practice schedule, okay?" Steven was glaring at the guy with a loathing Ted had rarely seen in him. "Because if I have to walk past him, I'm gonna bloody those pubes on his lip."

Ted, who thought fighting was stupid (especially over a girl) nodded. "Alright, mate. Keep your head cool. I'm gonna run an errand," he said. He had one joint left in his pocket and he thought he might want to find a place to smoke it before he lost it or got busted with it. Besides, he had a lot to do this semester. He'd need a clear head after tonight."

Steven clapped Ted on the back and headed back to find his team mate. Ted slipped out the Great Hall doors and made his way down to the dungeon where nobody would smell the smoke.

~❀~

Andromeda burst through the Great Hall doors and down the steps to the dungeon. She ducked into a corridor just past the turn for the Slytherin common room and pressed her back to the cold stone wall, breathless with fury. Seventh year. What was seventh year going to be? Another year of busting her ass to achieve O’s she would never use. Another year of housemates with screwed-up priorities, but this time add a fiancé she loathed who was determined to get laid. And now she couldn’t even live vicariously through Pyxis, who would doubtless be sobbing into her porridge at breakfast tomorrow. She looked down to see that her hands were shaking. She wanted to grab that stupid mustache with two hands and rip it off Oakby’s face.

Just then she realized that she was not alone. Andromeda started and spun around. Someone was standing at the end of the short hallway leaned against the closet door. “Lumos,” she whispered, casting a beam of light on his face. It was another seventh year, a Hufflepuff, Ted Tonks. He was a lean boy with wavy blonde hair and dark, angular eyebrows. His narrow hazel eyes gave his expression a look of focus. Held in his fingers and pursed between his curved lips was a joint. When Andromeda’s light fell on him, he squinted for a moment before cursing under his breath. “Busted,” he said, hardly pulling the rolled cannabis away from his mouth.

Andromeda couldn’t decide if she wanted to shout or snatch the contraband or just laugh. “What?!” She managed to blurt. “What… why…” She couldn’t seem to find words to describe the poor decision making.

Ted smirked. “I was just trying to finish off the last of my summer stash. Can’t leave it for me mum to find, now, can I? And who’s going to notice the smell with all the other fumes down here?”

Andromeda bit the insides of her lips together and shook her head.

“So am I getting detention or…?” He brought the joint back to his lips and took another drag.

“Fuck it,” Andromeda said, and reached to snatch it from him. She pressed the end firmly between her lips and pulled. Smoke filled her lungs, and she went into a fit of coughs as it burned her nose and throat.

Ted laughed. “Alright, Head Girl.”

She had never done that before: never smoked. There were already so many impossible standards she had to live up to in the Black household. Recreational drug use was never something that crossed her mind to try when she could be doing dangerous things like fantasizing about a career as a healer or listening to a friend’s cassette of The Archie’s performing “Sugar Sugar.”

Andromeda finished her spell of coughing and passed the stub back to him. He took another slow drag that pulled the ember so far up the paper that it almost burned his finger, then he dropped it on the stone floor and snuffed it out with a pointed leather shoe. “Rough day?” he asked.

“When is it not?” she replied before whispering “Knox” and tucking her wand away. “Gryffindor just tried to get me to dump my best friend for him.”

“Tosser,” Ted said in a tone that read shock and indignation. “That’s firstie nonsense there.” A warm yellow torch light flickered in the corridor behind Andromeda, but Ted was barely visible tucked in the shadows. His disembodied voice was comforting, like a friendly ghost that was there to listen.

“Yeah, well, one more year and I never have to come back here again,” and as she said it, she felt a pang of dread in her gut. Seventh years were supposed to be ready to break free. Supposed to. She wanted to come back here. It was preferable to home. And what would she be going to next year? A life with Rabastan in his parents’ drafty old house, with her least favorite sister down the hall, waiting for their in-laws to die so they could split the family fortune.

“One more,” Ted echoed. “Doesn’t really feel like six years have passed, does it? The sorting always gives me mad nostalgia— remembering what it’s like to sit with that old hat down over your eyes, a little voice probing your deepest thoughts so it can label you and send you off."

“And then you wound up stuck in Hufflepuff,” Andromeda said.

“Sure beats Slytherin,” he quipped back.

“Touché.”

Andromeda leaned back against the wall and took a deep breath. He was right. The dungeons usually smelled like some kind of skunky cabbage stew. Who was going to notice a little weed?

“You look like her,” Ted said. “Your scary sister. The dark-haired one.”

“Bella,” Andromeda said. “People say that.” They shared the same angular faces, though Andromeda was fairer like Narcissa.

“Piece of work that one.”

Andromeda didn’t disagree. They stood in silence in the dark for a while, just existing comfortably in the same space. “So, if I’m not going to be dragged off to Filch, I should probably get to my dorm,” he finally said.

“Yeah,” Andromeda replied. “I’ve got rounds anyway. You know the Gryffindors— there’s always one who sneaks out on the first night here.”

Ted stepped past Andromeda, his face catching the torchlight. His black school robes brushed her as he walked by, wafting his scent towards her: a heady mixture like vanilla and cedar. “Take care… er… Black, right?”

“Andromeda,” she said. They’d had three classes together sixth year. Was she really that quiet in class?

“Right. ‘Dromeda. Sleep tight.” He winked at her and passed on towards the steps to the Great Hall. Andromeda felt a flutter in her stomach. As she leaned out into the dungeon corridor and watched him go, recognition washed over her. That sensation was something she had rarely felt, but yes, that was definitely it. Attraction. Andromeda Black had a crush on a Hufflepuff.


	2. The Herbology Project

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda and Ted are forced to work together.

**Chapter Two:  
** **The Herbology Project**

Ted got out of the shower for his first day of classes and carefully combed his floppy blond hair so that it would fall right when it dried. He slipped into his new black work robes and spent a few minutes on the edge of his four-poster bed shining his shoes to erase all of the scuffs.

Steven sat on the edge of his own bed, rubbing his eyes and making dramatic moans to let everyone know he was beat. He had stayed up too late chatting with a group of girls in the common room who had gotten the memo that he was single for the first time in years.

"No sympathy," Amos Diggory said, walking into the common room from showering and throwing his towel off.

"Ah, man, come on," Steven said. "Have a little modesty. At least turn around before you flash us all your pecker."

"You're just jealous," Amos said, winking.

"You got me," Steven said. "I just wish mine was so small. Might make my trousers more comfortable."

"This is not turning into a cock-competition," Ted said. "Amos, turn around. We'd rather look at your arse than your flacid penis."

"What time did you even crawl in here?" Amos asked. "When I bowed out you had quite an audience."

"Two?" Steven guessed.

"Hey, he's on the rebound," Ted said. "Let him flirt."

"Flirting's not the problem; you gotta know when to quit. You're gonna be knackered by the end of the day," Amos said. "Seventh year is no joke."

Steven got up and started digging around for clothing. Ted felt bad that Amos was giving him a hard time. Steven was really torn up about his breakup, even if he flirted and joked. Amos wasn't the most emotionally perceptive guy and he took what Steven said at face value without seeing the truth behind it. "When you look back on seventh year, Amos, what are you going to remember? Being well-rested in class? Or snogging a fit girl in an empty corridor?"

Amos pretending to think about that and then nodded. "You're right. Of course."

"You just gotta find a girl who will want you with that tiny cock," Steven said. This was their way. They were always ragging on each other.

"So which of those girls are you into?" Amos asked Steven.

Steven shrugged. "I dunno." Ted knew Steven, and he knew that half-hearted shrug. He didn't want to answer because his answer wasn't light-hearted and fun. Steven didn't want to date any of them. He was still mourning his lost relationship.

"You know who's cute?" Amos said. "Calliope Brower."

"What?" Steven said. "You know she's mental."

Ted nodded, tracing his jaw with his finger to make sure he hadn't missed any spots shaving. "Yeah, mate. Don't do that. I thought she was cute too, fifth year. And then she tried to get me with a love potion."

"No kidding," Amos said, smirking.

"No," Ted scolded. "It's not the sexy kind of mad. You'll regret it."

"Alright then, who do you think is fit?" Amos asked Ted.

Ted hesitated. His mind went to the dungeon. A slender silhouette in the torchlight, winged eyeliner, her lips pursed around the end of Ted's joint. "Uh, I dunno. I'm keeping my options open..." And then he decided to float the idea. "You know who I never noticed is cute? Andromeda Black."

Steven barked laughter. "Sure, if you want your nuts hexed off."

"Is she really that bad?"

"She's a Black sister," Amos said, buttoning his shirt and turning to look for something else in his trunk. "You remember Bellatrix? She and her boyfriend ran around terrorizing--"

"Yeah," Ted cut him off. "I remember Bellatrix. I'm the mudblood, remember?" Ted said, his voice going sour. He had been hexed by Rodolphus while she cackled and cheered him on a few times. Pretty much every muggleborn kid in the school had. It was a miracle they'd graduated instead of being expelled. Ted was pretty sure their parents knew people.

"Oh yeah," Steven said. "I remember that. Fucking psycho."

"Bellatrix is heinous," Ted agreed. "But I dunno. Andromeda's Head Girl. She seems... okay."

"Objectively, I would shag her," Amos said. "And her little sister's cute if she didn't always look bound-up. But even saying the phrase 'Black Sister' makes my anus tighten with fear. No, mate. I don't think so."

Ted grabbed his backpack and stood up. "Alright, well. I'm going down to eat. If you two want to miss breakfast, that's on you."

"Right behind you," Amos said, stuffing his feet into his shoes and mashing down the heels. "Don't be too late, Steven. They'll be handing out schedules."

~❀~

That night Andromeda dreamed about her fifth year conference with Professor Slughorn. Every student met with their head of house before taking their OWLs to discuss career ambitions and the scores they would need to achieve those goals. It was the first time Andromeda had said out loud what she’d known for years: she was not going to have a career. She remembered the way the portly Professor frowned as Andromeda had said in a clear but trembling voice that she was going to get married and live in a manor house. Andromeda hadn’t cried during that meeting, but she’d wanted to. Slughorn had talked about her grades and aptitude and pointed out that she had the connections to pursue almost any career, but Andromeda knew her father would never approve. Slughorn had put down on her paperwork that the Slytherin girl was training to be a healer, but they both knew that was only for the paperwork.

The dream occupied Andromeda’s thoughts as she woke, dressed, and made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was rare for her to have a dream like that, one that was just a memory. Though the events had been abridged in her recollection, they had not been embellished. Weren’t dreams supposed to be strange and disconnected? Why couldn’t she dream she was a Quidditch star or that she had too many doxies and not enough cages? Normal stuff.

The dream quickly left her thoughts, however when she arrived at the Great Hall to see Pyxis running from the double doors with tears streaming from her eyes. Her stomach growled, but Andromeda knew her duties as a friend demanded she push her hunger aside. Besides, she was fairly sure she knew why her best friend was crying, and Andromeda thought that if she had to look at Oakby sitting at the Gryffindor table knowing what an actual coward he was, she just might give in to that mustache-ripping instinct.

She found Pyxis tucked in a little alcove halfway between the entrance hall and the staircase to one of the towers. Her normally sunny disposition was drowned in a flood of tears, and Andromeda just sat next to her quietly and put her arm around her shoulder. After a few minutes, when the sobs seemed to quiet down, Andromeda dryly offered, “Gryffindors.”

Pyxis laughed before sobbing once more. “I thought everything was fine. Better than fine. Great. We… we… I lost my virginity to him last month.”

Oh now Andromeda was ready to kill. She ignored her loudly hammering heart and pulled Pyxis into a fierce hug. “You want me to poison him? Curse him? I have my ways.” And she was only half joking. She was sure her parents had a few artifacts at home that could do the trick. She remembered the glass case in her mother’s boudoir with a beautiful, forbidden necklace.

Pyxis laughed again. “You’re not Slytherin enough to do it.”

Andromeda tipped her head to catch Pyxis’s gaze, and once she was sure her friend was listening, she spoke very clearly. “Sam Oakby is a dumb twat, and he wasn’t good enough for you. Silver linings: you’re not pregnant and you don’t have any diseases from him. Your heart will heal stronger and you’ll meet someone worthy. You got that?”

Pyxis nodded.

“But you are definitely entitled to some Honeydukes chocolate, a good cry, and all the loathing you can manage for him. That’s a given. And if later this week you want to plot vengeance, I am totally into that. Just maybe not murder. I was kidding about that. Mostly.”

Andromeda was able to convince Pyxis to wash up while she smuggled some pastries and fruit from the Great Hall and picked up their time tables. They went down to the lawn to picnic before class, and Andromeda tried her best to chatter on about classes so Pyxis wouldn’t think about Oakby and end up crying again. By the end of breakfast they has also cast an impervious charm on her touched-up mascara to keep it from running.

When breakfast ended and students started trickling out of the front doors, Andromeda vanished the remains of their meal and parted ways with her friend. Anger stewed inside her as she marched across the lawn to the greenhouse for seventh year Herbology. She made a list of nasty tricks to play on Oakby that would only result in a little detention if caught. She wondered if she could trick him into getting a shrinking solution on his privates.

Professor Sprout was a woman in her late thirties with graying blonde hair. She had replaced Professor Beery last year and seemed much more dedicated to her craft than her predecessor, whose heart was really in drama. Andromeda liked her. She had energy and enthusiasm and couldn’t help but transmit it to her students. This morning she was breezing around the greenhouse watering plants and greeting students as they came in. The tables at the center were already covered in a brand new set of fluffy earmuffs that looked like they were replacements for the ratty old pairs they had used second year to repot mandrakes.

Andromeda snagged a stool at the back of the green house just out of reach of the venomous tentacula and pulled out a new leather portfolio filled with crisp sheets of parchment. She wrote the date at the top of a fresh sheet in her looping cursive and doodled a pair of earmuffs. She knew the first day of class was likely to be hands-on, but she would be returning to take notes on what they did after class, so she thought she’d get ready (and seize the opportunity to use one of her new quills she was secretly just a little excited about.)

Students soon filled the greenhouse, loudly discussing their summer holidays. Sprout called them all to attention soon after and Andromeda slipped the pot of ink back in her bag while she listened.

“You’ve all had the opportunity to pot infant mandrakes with Professor Beery, right?”

Students nodded and grunted affirmative replies.

“Excellent. Today we’ll be working with mature adults. I shouldn’t have to tell you here that carelessness in this case will be deadly.” The class grew very still. “These earmuffs may look silly and fuzzy, but they are far superior to the set we just disposed of, and keeping these on at all times will save your life. Now. I am going to give all the directions, and after I say muffs on, these will not come off for any reason until I have given an all clear signal.”

Sprout explained that they would be repotting mandrake seedlings. This involved uprooting grown females and separating the infants from their pots. They were going to cultivate these new mandrakes as an ongoing project throughout the year. Sprout read off a list of assigned partners and pointed to work stations as she went along the list. As she got to the end of the list the last two people waiting for assignments were Andromeda and… Ted Tonks.

Ted Tonks, clean-shaven with his blond hair combed back for the first day of school, waved and sauntered over to Andromeda. “Howdy, partner,” he said in an awful American accent that made her scowl and focus extra hard on picking out a pair of mint green earmuffs.

“Oh come on, it isn’t that bad,” he said with a grin. The sunlight streaming in through the greenhouse roof brought out flecks of green and amber in his hazel eyes. “I’m no Ravenclaw, it’s true, but we Hufflepuffs are known to be hard-working.”

“Hmm,” Andromeda replied. What did she say to him? Hey, thanks for the weed? She could hear her mother saying all sorts of terrible things about this muggleborn Hufflepuff who wasn’t on the Quidditch team and wasn’t the top of any class. But sweet Merlin, he was so cute.

“Bad day carry over into the morning?” he asked, his smile fading.

“Yeah. Remember how I said a Gryffindor tried to get me to break up with my best friend for him?”

“Cowardly lion got someone else to do it?”

Andromeda didn’t get the reference, “Big boy grew up and did it himself.”

“I’m guessing that’s why Pyxis Greengrass ran crying from breakfast this morning?”

Andromeda nodded.

Sprout started giving step-by-step instructions for their repotting assignment and Andromeda tore her attention away from Ted to focus on their dangerous task. When they were through with instructions, Sprout reminded them of the consequences of hearing a mandrake’s shriek one more time before instructing them to put the earmuffs on.

The world went completely silent. Andromeda could hear nothing except her own heart beating in her ears as she gripped the base of the leaves just above the dirt and prepared to uproot the female mandrake. Ted came around the table and braced the pot for her with both hands. She watched him mouth “three, two, one” before she yanked. Dirt flew everywhere and the muddy, lumpy, vaguely female-shaped plant opened its mouth and cried out as it waved its fists and kicked.

Getting it out was the easy part. Ted and Andromeda couldn’t speak to coordinate with each other, and the plant creature had to be held at arm’s length while Ted frantically searched the potted dirt for loose baby seedlings. Andromeda watched him dump the dirt on their work station and sift through it. When he’d found all of the babies, the real hard part came. The female fought as they shoved her back into the pot and threw dirt at them while Ted held her down and Andromeda packed her with fresh black soil. When the task was done, they were both panting and covered in soil.

Ted offered Andromeda a muddy hand to shake. What was she going to do, spit on it? She accepted his handshake. He winked.

They quietly set to planting the seedlings in a series of small pots. Andromeda would fill the pots part-way with potting soil before receiving a sprout from Ted. He would pour soil on top along with fertilizer and they would gently pack the dirt before watering it.

An hour after they started, when Sprout finally inspected all of the mother pots for safety and gave the all-clear, they took off their earmuffs. The sudden return of sound was overwhelming. Everyone in the class was as filthy as Ted and Andromeda.

“That was very different than the infants,” another Slytherin observed out loud.

“Yes,” Sprout said with a chuckle. “It is. Now you’ve all got a workout, you’ll need to shower before afternoon classes. Class dismissed.”

Andromeda didn’t have an afternoon class, but she wanted to take a soak in the prefect’s bathroom and scribble down notes from Herbology. She grabbed her bag by the handle at the top, not wanting to use the cross-body strap and rub it all over her dirty robes, and followed the crowd out of the greenhouse. Ted stuck close by her side, encouraged by their successful partnership.

“Wild first class, huh?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking around to see if any of her house mates were watching them. The Black sisters did not befriend muggleborns, and Andromeda wasn’t about to get a howler because some Hufflepuff had decided to be her new sidekick.

“It’s going to be neat to see them grow up. My cousin Karen had this project at school where she and a bloke had to take care of an egg like it was a baby for a week, and they broke it. We’ve got real living things for almost a whole school year. No pressure.”

Oh crap, Andromeda thought, he was her partner all year. “Why was she taking care of an egg?”

“She’s a muggle. I think the point is to discourage teenage pregnancy.”

“Ah,” Andromeda said. “Do they think an egg is going to stop them from getting pregnant?” She didn’t know. Muggles were supposed to be heartwarmingly bumbling simpletons, right? That was the way comics made them seem.

“No,” he said, blinking, “It’s a lesson about responsibility, I think.”

Curiosity struck her, and Andromeda turned to look at him. He was a lot taller than her and his head was placed at a convenient height to block the sun from shining in her eyes. “How _do _muggles keep from getting pregnant? Or do they have a zillion kids?”

“Well, for women there’s a pill,” he started.

“Muggle men get pregnant?”

Ted laughed. “No, I mean women can take… it’s like a little potion. If men want to take the initiative then…” he trailed off and his sunkissed cheeks turned bright pink.

Andromeda couldn’t help but smile just a little. “What?”

“It’s a piece of rubber,” he said, and the flush crept across his entire face.

“A piece of rubber?” Andromeda just didn't get it.

“It’s like a tube that they put—” a voice cut him off and Ted looked relieved.

“Andromeda!” Narcissa called as they crossed the threshold of the school into the entrance hall. “Ew, why are you so dirty?”

Andromeda nodded at Ted Tonks and slipped away to join her sister. He waved, but Andromeda did not wave back. Not while Narcissa was watching.

“Isn’t that guy a muggleborn?” she asked.

“He’s my Herbology partner,” Andromeda said. “Assigned.”

Narcissa was dolled up for her first day with her white-blonde hair falling around her shoulders in perfectly charmed curls. The neckline of her school robes had been altered to show the necklace from Lucius. She clutched her Arithmancy textbook in front of her and watched Ted Tonks head in the direction of the Hufflepuff dorms. “Ew,” she said again.

“We just spent an hour wrestling adult mandrakes, and my hands hurt, and I’m covered in dirt. I’m going to get a long, hot bath. If one of the other prefects in my class doesn’t beat me to it.”

“Is Pyxis okay?” Narcissa asked. “Everyone saw Sam Oakby break up with her this morning.”

“She’s fine. Well, she’ll be fine. I told her we can plot revenge Friday if she feels like it.”

“Ooh, count me in,” Narcissa said. “He was flirting with Viola yesterday, but I told her this morning that she's out of the group if she even looks sweet at him. If he thinks he can hurt one of our friends and just move on, he’s extremely mistaken.”

Andromeda wanted to hug her little sister for that, but she figured Narcissa would not appreciate a muddy embrace. “You let me know if you have any ideas,” Andromeda said with a grin. Most guys around Hogwarts knew better than to mess with the Black sisters, even without Bellatrix there to hex them. It would be extremely satisfying to teach Oakby that Andromeda’s friends fell under that same protection.

“Go bathe,” Narcissa said. “We can talk about our first days at dinner.”

Andromeda moved like she was going to touch Narcissa with a muddy hand. Narcissa shouted in alarm and jumped away. Andromeda laughed.

“Not even funny,” Narcissa said.

“A little funny,” Andromeda replied, before heading to the prefect’s bathroom for a long, hot bubble bath.


	3. The Derailment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda makes a bold decision that deviates from the plan.

**Chapter Three:  
** **The Derailment**

On Friday night Ted sat by the empty fireplace in the Hufflepuff common room, watching Steven and Amos participate in a raucous game of Exploding Snap for an audience. He had his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook open on his lap and was trying to get ahead on his schoolwork, but there were too many exciting sounds around him, so he ignored his reading and watched the entertaining game unfold.

The Hufflepuff common room was the best common room in all of the school-- or at least Ted assumed because he couldn't exactly visit any others. It was warm and cozy, decorated in black velvet and gold, and there were large sofas where big groups of friends could sit around and hang out. The walls brightened the space with white and gold brocade wallpaper, and silver framed portraits broke up the elegant pattern and added life to the space. There were round tables in the corner for study groups, but most of those tables were unoccupied. The first Friday night back at school was too exciting. Book work would wait until the weekend.

Someone joined Ted on his sofa. She was a sixth year girl with chocolate brown hair that fell in large ringlets. Audrey Pontner. She sat close to Ted and leaned against his shoulder so he could hear her over the commotion.

"Wild game, huh?" she said.

Ted nodded. "They need to start practice so they can get some of this energy out." Ted got his best studying done when his friends were off playing Quidditch without him.

"Do you think we'll do well this year?" she asked.

Ted turned and locked eyes with her. She had rosy cheeks and she was smiling. He was pretty sure, as close as she was sitting, that she was flirting. "Uh, yeah," he said, mirroring her smile. "I mean, I have to say yes though, right? My best mate is the captain."

"Oh, sure," she said, laughing. "Steven."

"Yeah, Steven," he said. "Who do you go for?" he asked. "Who's your team?"

"Ballycastle," she said. "Go bats!"

"Go bats," Ted repeated. "How were your first NEWT classes?"

"Nastily exhausting," she said.

Ted laughed. "Well, they are called Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests for a reason." Ted started feeling that prickle of excitement, that mixture of flattery and possibility. She was cute. She was warm and friendly. Ted wanted to get to know her.

"So," she said, pointing at the game. Steven slapped down a card on top of Amos's pile and there was a flash, bang, and a puff of smoke. The crowd around them cheered. "Steven," she added. "Is he really single now?"

Ted scowled. "Oh. Yeah. He is."

"Oh, great," she said.

Ted sat back in his seat. So much for getting to know her. She wanted to get to know Steven. "Listen," Ted said. He wanted to be happy for Steven, even if he was a little bit disappointed she wasn't interested in _him._ "Steven was in a long-term thing and he's smiling and acting fine, but maybe give him some time."

"Oh, of course," she said.

Ted closed his textbook "I should go read this somewhere where I can hear myself think," he said.

"Sure," Audrey replied. "Thanks."

Ted got up from his seat and left Audrey behind on the sofa. He headed down the corridor to the seventh year boys room and tossed his book inside on his bed before opening his trunk and changing for bed.

Ted was used to being the cute, charismatic guy that all the girls flocked to. But he realized now that this was not the natural state of things. He adjusted to this reality without too much jealousy. How could he blame girls for being interested int he star of the house Quidditch team? But Ted knew, whether or not his best friend deserved the attention, it posed a problem for him. If he wanted to get any action this year, Ted was going to have to figure out how to get Steven off the market first.

~❀~

It was Saturday before Andromeda got a chance to talk to her little cousin, Sirius. She slept in, regretting not getting on a better sleep schedule during the last days of August so she would be ready for all of the early classes. When she finally rose after ten, it was too late to rush and grab breakfast in the Great Hall.

Andromeda took her time getting ready and instead decided to arrive upstairs for an early lunch. Most of their classmates wore muggle clothes on weekends. The Black family didn’t blend with current muggle fashions, but the kids could get away with outdated muggle outfits. After all, there was no such thing as wizarding fashion completely free from muggle influences, much to her aunt's chagrin. Andromeda had never owned trousers in her life, but she did dress in a emerald green skirt that fell just below the knee and a cream colored blouse with ruffles on the ends of the sleeves and at the collar. She slipped on her most comfortable pair of heels (charmed to feel like walking on a cloud) and took her time doing her makeup. She finished off the look with a pair of emerald earrings her father had bought to celebrate her sorting and made her way up the dungeon steps to the Great Hall. It was no wonder the Black sisters were seen as frigid when compared to the other students in their bell-bottoms and knit shirts. She entered behind a Ravenclaw wearing jeans with holes in the knees and a t-shirt with a muggle rock album on the front.

Sirius had opted for his 1971 Ballycastle Championship robes, brand new. He was filling a plate with chicken legs when Andromeda passed by the Gryffindor table, and she stopped to click her tongue. “No vegetables. What would your mother say?”

“What mum doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” Sirius said with an adorable grin. He reminded her of a puppy with his sunny demeanor and ability to charm strangers. “I would eat nothing but pie, but the elves don’t seem keen on putting out desserts for weekend lunches.”

“No, those will be limited outside of feasts, I’m sorry to say.”

Oakby wandered into the Great Hall and brushed past Andromeda on his way to lunch. She narrowed her gaze at him and he rolled his eyes. “What are you all dressed up for, Andy? On your way to a muggle execution?”

“Hey,” Sirius said. It took Oakby a minute to realize he was being addressed by an eleven-year-old. “You’ve got something on your lip. You should see Kettleburn about that infestation.”

A fat little firstie snorted into his plate. Andromeda pretended to scratch her nose to mask a smile.

“He’s just bitter that Narcissa declared Oakby off-limits to her friends,” Andromeda said before reaching to snag a pickle from the Gryffindor table. Andromeda suspected that the breakup with Pyxis was just the cherry on top for her little sister. Oakby's family wasn't pure enough by Black standards, and he was a Gryffindor. Would Narcissa disapprove of her friends dating him if he was more desirable as a match? “Come on, Sirius. Let’s fill up a plate and go have lunch down by the lake. Better view,” she said, glaring at Oakby.

Sirius and Andromeda grabbed whatever food looked good and made their way out of the Great Hall. Sirius walked with his chin up, proud to be hanging out with his seventh year cousin.

“Gryffindors aren’t giving you a hard time, are they?” Andromeda asked as she walked with Sirius to the edge of the lake. It was a warm sunny day and the giant squid was at the surface, showing off.

“A few of them made some comments the first night, but they’ve generally forgotten I’m a Black,” Sirius said. “And I’ve made a few friends.”

“No muggleborns, right?”

Sirius shook his head. “No, sadly. Could you imagine my mother’s face?”

Andromeda couldn’t decide if she should laugh or shake her head. She had never personally found anything wrong with muggleborns, but to her it wasn’t worth starting a fight at home to befriend any. As far as she had observed, they were just as capable as pureblooded witches, but Andromeda already had Pyxis. She was happy with her quiet little social circle. Well… mostly happy. As they approached the lake she saw Rabastan standing around with a circle of Slytherins, conspiring. He spotted her before she could redirect Sirius and called them over.

“You look beautiful,” Rabastan said, reaching to grab Andromeda’s elbow and pull her closer. She forced a smile and turned her cheek to accept a kiss on the side of the face. She couldn’t hold him off forever, but her innocent little cousin could serve as a buffer today.

“Thank you,” she said politely. “I’m just having lunch with Sirius. You remember my cousin.”

“Yes, I do. I tell you, we were all floored when you got sorted into Gryffindor.”

Sirius shrugged. “Yeah, well, someone had to be the black sheep of the Black family, right?”

Rabastan laughed at the easy pun. “Yeah. Sure. You tell me if anyone there messes with you, okay? I can teach you some nasty hexes.”

“Now, now,” Andromeda said. She had seen Rabastan duel before, and she knew the hexes he favored were just shy of forbidden. “Let’s not be teaching my little cousin anything too dark, Rabastan. He’ll find trouble enough without your help.”

Sirius scoffed. “I’m almost twelve.”

Rabastan laughed. “Practically an adult. When you’re ready to learn the stuff the Professors won’t teach you, you know where to find me.”

Andromeda shook her head at her fiancé. “Come on, Sirius. I want you to tell me about your first week of classes.”

Rabastan slipped his arm around Andromeda’s waist. She willed herself to relax. “Mind if I join you?” He glanced over at his Slytherin friends: a tall, pale Slytherin named Nero and short, dark-skinned boy named Raul. They turned without a word to Rabastan and headed off, whispering to each other.

“Sure,” Andromeda said with a forced smile. “There’s enough here for three.”

After about an hour of discussing first year classes and snacking on baked chicken and dinner rolls, Sirius excused himself to go meet some friends to watch Gryffindor Quidditch try-outs. Andromeda tried to think of an excuse to leave, but before she could bring up her homework, Rabastan slipped his hand over hers, his finger brushing the ring he’d bought for her with his parents’ gold.

“It’s nice to be back at Hogwarts,” he said. “I’ll see you a lot more often.”

“Perhaps,” Andromeda said. She wanted to run away, but she was a dutiful daughter and she stayed rooted to her spot on the grass. “Seventh year is very busy. Lots of work to do.”

“Then we have to play when we can,” he said. With his head titled down and his eyes cast up at her, he looked purely wicked. A strand of his slicked-back black hair fell over his forehead and he pushed it back before reaching to touch Andromeda’s jaw. Her heart sped up. This was it. This was the moment that she was supposed to let him kiss her. She’d done it before— kissed a boy. Andromeda had snogged Linus Greengrass (Pyxis's second cousin) after her fifth year Quidditch final on a sofa in the Slytherin common room. All she had to do was close her eyes.

His lips pressed against hers. She kept her mouth closed as he scooted closer. His tongue darted out to flick against her lips, but she figured he could deal with a chaste first kiss. Andromeda let him linger for just a moment before pulling away and placing that fake, rehearsed smile on her mouth.

Rabastan’s eyes looked hungry. She expertly excused herself. “Thank you for having lunch with us. I bet it means a lot to have some older kids looking out for Sirius,” she said, using the topic of her cousin, a child, as a buffer for Rabastan’s lust. “Now I’ve got a mountain of homework to start on. These Professors don’t mess around.”

She started to get up, careful to stay modest as she left the ground in her skirt. Rabastan grabbed her wrist. “When am I going to get to spend more time with you?” She knew what he really meant by that question, and she raised an eyebrow.

“We have plenty of time to get to know each other better,” she said. “My great grandmother is a hundred and twelve.”

“I can’t wait,” he said, releasing her wrist and letting her escape.

_I can,_ she thought. And she flashed a cooperative smile before turning and fleeing up the lawn.

Andromeda rushed up the stairs to the castle and through the double doors. Her heels clicked as she briskly walked across the entrance hall and passed by the entryway to the dungeons. She made her way to the library and down the potions reference aisle before stopping to collect her thoughts and decide what she actually needed to work on.

School. She wasn’t lying when she said she had homework. Andromeda brought her fingers up to touch her lips, remembering Rabastan’s slimy, wet tongue trying to get in. She shuddered. He wasn’t hideous and he didn’t smell bad. It wouldn’t have been so bad if she wasn’t certain he was a psychopath.

School. Defense Against the Dark Arts. She had an essay to write on the history of poisons and antidotes. Her finger ran down a row of cloth and leather spines while she tried to clear her head enough to find the right book. Of course she could tell Rabastan she wanted to be a virgin bride, but she still had to marry him in about a year’s time. Then what would that excuse be worth? She was going to marry him, sleep with him, raise psychopathic little purebloods with him.

The path was already laid out for her. What choice did she have?

~❀~

A shadow passed by at the end of the row and Ted looked up. Andromeda Black stood staring at a scrap of paper in her hand with a number from the card catalogue. Ted stopped where he was in front of a book he needed and rubbed his chin. His face was covered in a light wash of stubble, and he wore jeans and a belt with a striped shirt, its peak collar unbuttoned, his sleeves rolled up. But Andromeda looked like she was dressed for a completely different kind of occasion in heels and a pencil skirt. _Sexy school teacher,_ he thought. _From 1945. _Of course she was here: she was in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She had the same essay.

“Oh, hey,” he said. “Working on Branch’s essay?”

Andromeda nodded, her hand clenching the tiny slip of paper. She nodded and took a deep breath.

“Are you okay?” Ted asked, stepping closer.

Andromeda looked tense. Her shoulders were tight and her lips were pressed together in a firm line. Ted noticed that her eyes were dilated. She looked almost scared, but a little crinkle formed in her forehead, knitting her brow together. She was struggling with something. Was she angry? Confused? Before Ted could pin down her expression, she moved. She stepped towards Ted, grabbed his collar, and pulled him down into a kiss.

_What the hell?! _Ted thought. He froze at first as her lips crashed against his and stood up straight, breaking the kiss. Andromeda’s fingers stayed curled around his shirt, but her eyes were wide and her eyes were alive with thought.

She was cute-- no, she was hot. Ted knew he shouldn't question it. Had she felt that tug of attraction in the dungeons too? _Well,_ _fuck it, _he thought. And then Ted slid his arms around her and pulled her against him. His mouth was back on her warm, soft lips. She parted them to allow his tongue entrance. Her arms snaked up around his shoulders and her fingers found his hair. His hands roamed her back as they stumbled against the shelf, locked in a fiery kiss.

It was only a few moments, a few moments of her body pressed firmly against his while they were lost in the kiss, and then her body tensed up like an arching cat. She pushed her hands against his chest and slid from between his body and the bookcase, ducking his grasp. Ted rubbed his mouth, feeling the waxy residue of her lipstick.

Ted smiled. “Well hello,” he said. He was awake, his trousers fitting a bit more snuggly than a moment before. This unexpected snog from a gorgeous girl had really woken him up.

“I’m sorry,” she immediately apologized. “I just—” She hesitated, searching for words.

“No need to apologize,” he said. He reached out for her hand, but she pulled her own hand away as if afraid that his touch might start the whole thing over again.

“I really shouldn’t have done that,” she said, keeping her voice low. She didn't want anyone to hear them.

“It seemed alright to me,” he said, wiping his mouth and looking down at the makeup left on his hand.

“I really shouldn’t have…” but rather than try to explain herself, Andromeda just made a b-line for the door. She left the library altogether and started rushing towards the entrance hall and the steps to the dungeon. Ted started after her, but she didn't stop and Ted knew better than to chase a girl through the library with the ever-vigilant Madam Pince watching like a hawk.

He stopped at the end of the aisle, watching her go. She looked panicked. "Am I that bad a kisser?" he mumbled to himself.

Ted had forgotten all about his essay now. He wanted to go find Steven and Amos to talk. He walked back to the table where his things were laid out, ready to pack his bag and go, but he froze with his hand on the zipper of his backpack, thinking about the way she'd reacted.

She was a Black sister. Bellatrix Black and her boyfriend had included Ted in their torture list because he was a muggleborn. If he told Steven (and wasn't kissing and telling considered rude?) and Steven blabbed, would she be in trouble? _What would I tell him anyway? 'Hey Buddy, I kissed a girl and apparently I was so undesirable that she ran away from me.' Yeah, no._

Ted lifted his bag from his chair and sat down at the table. Was it a bad kiss? He'd thought it was pretty fantastic. Ted shook his head and looked down at his roll of parchment. He'd barely written an inch.

_Forget it, _he thought. He had to do this essay. Andromeda clearly didn't want to see any more of him. He resolved to keep working and get the assignment done. But it wasn't easy. His mind went back to her at every opportunity. That was some kiss.


	4. The Secret Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda and Ted confer about their situation.

**Chapter Four:**  
**The Secret Meeting**

Andromeda managed to avoid Ted Tonks until Wednesday. She felt guilty, kissing him like that and then running away. Using him for a moment of rebellion. Would she have kissed him had she not been avoiding the _other _first kiss she'd shared that day? She managed to keep the secret from Pyxis too. Yes, it would have been comforting to hear that she wasn’t a terrible person from her best friend, and she knew that Pyxis would say it even if it wasn’t true, but instead Andromeda opted for the strategy of ignoring the problem and hoping it went away.

Andromeda had Alchemy in the morning on Monday with only half a dozen other classmates. On Tuesday morning she went to the dungeons after breakfast for Potions. It was a wonderfully Ted-free hour of transmuting materials, and Professor Slughorn kept them so busy that not even Rabastan could find time to flirt. That night she had a patrol shift and caught Sirius and a fellow Gryffindor— a skinny boy with glasses— sneaking out to explore the castle. She dragged them back to the portrait of the fat lady with a warning. At least he’d made a friend. Andromeda had no classes on Wednesday, so she used that time to finish her essay for Defense Against the Dark Arts. It wasn’t until Thursday morning that she had to face Ted again. The prospect loomed over her eggs at breakfast. Perhaps they wouldn’t have to work on the mandrakes, and she would be saved.

Professor Sprout set them to work studying cuttings of a Devil’s Snare. They weren’t assigned partners for this one, so Andromeda was quick to grab the nearest partner, a Ravenclaw boy of questionable hygiene who was not going to turn anyone down. His name was Dilton, and he chatted her ears off about his plant collection.

Halfway through class, while they were using very sharp knives to dissect the tentacles, Andromeda looked up and saw Ted watching her. She felt her ears get hot and looked down to focus on her work. She exercised a great amount of willpower not to check to see if he was still looking for the rest of the class. When Sprout dismissed them, she was the first person out the door, nearly sprinting to the castle to get away from an awkward encounter with the boy she had thrown herself at on Saturday.

Her strategy of only popping into the Great Hall to smuggle out food and staying sequestered in her dorm worked until Friday when she had two classes with Ted. Defense Against the Dark Arts was their morning class, and after a brief note-taking session on the patronus charm, Professor Branch set his students loose to try it themselves.

And that was when Ted found his way over to talk to her.

“You’ve been a hard girl to pin down,” he said, and Andromeda couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows at his choice of phrasing. “What I mean,” he said, clearing his throat as he realized what he’d said, “is I’ve wanted to talk to you all week but you’ve been like a ghost.”

“About?” she asked, hoping he’d get the hint that she did not want to talk about Saturday.

“About what to name our baby mandrakes. What do you think?”

_Play dumb, play dumb, play dumb and he’ll get the point._ “I’ve always rather liked Nymphadora,” she said.

“Nympha-what?”

“Nymphadora. Like in Nymphadora Kettlebean and the Great Dragon.”

Ted just stared and blinked.

“Every witch reads that book when they’re about six years old. You’ve seriously never heard of it?”

“Honestly can say I have not. That’s a pretty stupid name.”

Andromeda scowled. “I’m supposed to be casting a happy-thoughts charm and you’re here making fun of me.”

Ted raised his hands in a gesture of innocence. “Woah there. Sorry. I did not mean to insult you. I just wanted to talk to you. By all means, cast away. Think happy thoughts, Wendy.”

“What?”

“Every muggle watches Peter Pan,” he said with a grin. “You’ve seriously never heard of it?”

“No,” she said and turned her back to him. Andromeda raised her wand and thought about the day her father sent her emerald earrings for being sorted into Slytherin. She could feel Ted behind her, watching. She could see his stupid smirk. A white wisp shot from her wand and fizzled.

She turned over her shoulder to see Ted watching her, casually sitting on the edge of a desk, his arms folded across his chest. “No luck?” he asked.

“I’d like to see you do better.”

Ted stood up straight and stepped away from the desk. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. A slow, lazy grin spread across his lips and he said, “Expecto Patronum.” A cool white tendril curled from the tip of his wand and swirled like a cyclone, tightening and twisting until the form of a Labrador retriever appeared. It barked once before its shape dissolved. Professor Branch shouted in delight from across the room and pushed past a crowd to congratulate Ted.

Andromeda hadn’t previously thought much about Ted Tonks, but from what she had observed of him in the three classes they shared, he had never been an overachiever or even much of an achiever at all. How was he better than her at this? It made her so angry that such a valuable spell could be nearly effortless for him. Sure it hadn’t lasted long, but he’d created a corporeal patronus on his first try. It was infuriating.

“Excellent mister—”

“Tonks,” Ted said.

“Mister Tonks. What thought did you use to summon the patronus?”

Ted looked sideways at Andromeda and then back at Professor Branch, who had bridged his fingers together like some patient preying mantis. “Uh, well, just the memory of an amazing kiss with this really fit girl,” he said. A Gryffindor in the class tried to high-five him, but Ted ignored him and instead stole sideways glances at Andromeda.

Andromeda pretended she was checking her textbook. Of course she knew exactly what he was talking about, but she refused to use that memory to fuel her own spell, even if it got her high marks. It was no good dwelling on that mistake. Even if it had been pretty spectacular.

~❀~

Class ended and Andromeda still hadn’t cast a solid patronus. Ted watched her try, but he could read her body and tell she was getting increasingly more frustrated as her spell got worse and worse. When they were dismissed, Ted packed his bag slowly, waiting for her to clear out. He stepped into the hall behind her and watched as she split off from the pack and took a shortcut down a moving flight of stairs. Ted Tonks caught up to her.

“Stalker much?” she asked as he waved to flag her down.

“Do you want me to go away?” he asked. “Do you really want me to go away?”

“I’m engaged,” she blurted.

Ted had been watching her all week, and he hadn't seen her be affectionate with anyone. Was she dating someone who was done with school? “You have a boyfriend?”

“You really don’t understand anything about being a pureblood, do you?”

“You don’t understand muggles. I’d say that puts us on pretty even footing, don’t you?” Ted leaned on the railing as the staircase decided to change paths. Now they weren’t going to get to her intended destination unless it decided to move back.

“In my world, girls get married when we graduate Hogwarts. Specifically to pureblooded men. My older sister married Rodolphus Lestrange. My younger sister will marry Lucius Malfoy in two years when she’s finished. And I’m going to be marrying Rabastan Lestrange in a year. Maybe less. Probably June knowing my mother.”

“Oh,” Ted said, and his brow crinkled with a frown. There was a long pause where neither of them moved or spoke. The staircase stopped in place and Andromeda had turned to leave when he said, “So then explain why you kissed me.”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you love Rabastan?” he asked.

Andromeda scoffed.

Ted raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to marry him, I think that’s hardly a stupid question.”

“Rodolphus and Bella were together since third year. Narcissa started dating Lucius last spring. I didn’t have someone picked out by the time I turned seventeen, which is dangerously old to have no prospects in my father’s mind, so he made me a match.” Andromeda held up a massive green ring. It must have cost a fortune.

“So this is like some archaic arranged marriage,” he said.

“Archaic? No, just… tradition.”

“And I was your attempt at rebellion?” he stepped closed. Andromeda didn’t move.

“It was stupid,” she said. “Not only are you not my fiancé and a Hufflepuff, but you’re muggleborn.”

“Is that a problem for you?” he asked, feeling a bit wounded. She had never talked down to him in class. He had hoped she wasn't like her sisters.

“Only if by problem you mean my parents would murder me if they even knew I thought about touching you. Yeah.”

“But you have thought about touching me,” he said, smirking. He had thought a lot about touching her, about grabbing her and pulling her tight against him. The way her body felt pressed against his, leaning back against the bookcase-- that memory had fueled some fantasies all week.

Andromeda swallowed. “I mean, I did grab you and kiss you Saturday.”

“And it was one hell of kiss,” he said. And now he was close enough for his hand to touch hers. She didn’t pull away.

“I really can’t do this,” she said, her eyes watching as he covered her hand in his own. He was looking down at her now, and he could smell her perfume, sweet and floral. Rose oil? “I may not want to marry him, but I’m not going to be a cheater.”

“And I don’t want to be someone’s affair,” he said, taking a step back. Rabastan was a deal-breaker. Ted made it a point to not snog girls with boyfriends, even if their boyfriends were tossers. It was partly morality, part self-preservation. “So dump him,” Ted suggested.

“You really don’t get it.”

“No,” he shook his head. “I guess I don’t. And you’re right… you shouldn’t cheat on him, even if he is…”

“Horrible,” Andromeda offered.

Ted nodded. “Guy has come at me more than once just for being a ‘mudblood’,” he said, making air quotes. “Him and his brother and your sister. He's kind of a psychopath. And yeah, I don’t know you very well, but I haven’t met very many people who deserve to be stuck with a guy like that for life.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Sure,” he said, taking a few steps back. Ted had snogged a fair amount of girls, and he had been in a few relationships. One kiss should have been easier to shake off. Did he just want Andromeda because he couldn't have her?

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be,” Ted said, turning to head back up the stairs. “It was a hell of a kiss.”

“Please don’t tell him.”

“Naw,” he glanced back over his shoulder. “That’s up to you. You know where to find me if you ever ditch the ball and chain. I may not be up for cheating, but I am definitely down to be your rebellion snog.”

Ted stepped off the staircase at the top, leaving Andromeda as it continued on its cycle. She couldn't follow him now, and he thought that might be for the best. If she had run up the stairs and hopped the gap now, he thought he might lose his resolve and just kiss her anyway. _Let it go,_ he told himself. She had a lot to figure out, and he didn't need to be part of that mess.

Andromeda sighed. She had to let him walk away. There was nothing to be done for it. She wandered the halls for half an hour before heading to lunch— she had missed her chance to intercept Pyxis and chat. Maybe this was one thing Pyxis didn’t need to know.

After lunch she headed to Charms where Ted was once again in her class. He sat far away from her and diligently took notes as professor Flitwick described a complicated process. Andromeda fought the desire to watch him, but she did steal a few glances at the back of his golden blond head.

As she was packing up her bag to leave, Ted passed her desk and dropped a slip of paper on top of her book. Andromeda looked around to make sure nobody was watching and opened the note.

> We’re not naming our mandrake Nymphadora.

She laughed. Well at least he didn’t hate her.


	5. The New Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda and Ted get to know each other.

**Chapter Five:**   
**The New Normal**

At first it was hard for Ted to just put the kiss aside. For the first week after, Andromeda became his sole source of masturbatory material. There was something about the way she moved, her heels and stockings, her lipstick-- she had crossed the threshold of adolescence to adulthood before many of their peers. She was a woman. It was a relief when Ted came back to his dorm one day to find a dirty magazine hidden under his pillow with a note. "Payback for MJ's delivery. -ST" Ted, with some new material, was able to finally stop obsessing over Andromeda. Wizard skin mags were so much better than the muggle ones. They _moved._

About two weeks after their conversation on the stairs, Ted was hanging out with his friends when Steven announced that they had to get to Quidditch practice. Ted, who was the only person in his friend group not on the Hufflepuff team, decided to get some work done in the library and left the Hufflepuff common room.

After working for two hours and ticking off a few items on his task list, he decided to leave. He was walking with his gaze down, thinking about his to-do list when he heard a familiar voice and realized he was being followed.

"Hey, mudblood," someone said.

Ted turned around and smiled. "Oh, hey Rodolphus," he said, mixing up his name on purpose.

Rabastan Lestrange stood with two boys that Ted knew well. Nero and Raul. They had become Rabastan's flunkies after his older brother had graduated.

"Where are your butt-buddies?" Raul asked.

Ted shook his head. "That's all you've got?"

"They're at Quidditch practice," Raul said. "Tonks isn't even good enough to make the Hufflepuff team." And the three of them snorted.

Ted sighed. He was so tired of this. He had gotten past the point of being anxious, and now he was just sick of it. "You're predictable, boring, and I don't have time for this shit," Ted said, turning to continue walking down the hall.

"Hey!" Rabastan snapped. "Who do you think you are?"

Ted turned around again, rage building inside him. He wasn't going to fight them, but his hands shook now and he wanted to scream. "Who do you think _you _are?"

"I'm a Lestrange," Rabastan said. "My jizz is worth more than you are."

Ted thought about what he might say to snap back at Rabastan. He knew things. He knew that Rabastan's fiancé hated him. He knew it would feel good to let Rabastan know that he'd kissed Andromeda and she'd liked it. But it would only feel good for a moment, and then she'd get hurt. He said nothing.

"Got nothing?" Nero asked, smiling. They were getting closer. Ted didn't want to be in arm's reach of them, so he casually walked backwards, trying to look nonchalant.

"No, you're just not worth it," Ted said. "I'm going to leave now." His eyes flicked down to Rabastan's hand. He was clenching a wand by his side. This was about to get messy.

And then McGonagall rounded the corner behind them. Ted sighed in relief. "Well," he said, as they realized Ted was looking at someone behind them and looked over their shoulders. "You gentlemen have a great day. I'll see you around." And Ted turned and rushed quickly around the corner.

Ted got through the passage to the Hufflepuff common room before he slowed down. His heart was racing. That could have been a bad day. _Fucking arsehole,_ Ted thought. He walked past his dorm and went straight to the bathroom, picking up a yellow towel from the shelf by the door as he entered. Ted found and empty shower cubicle and stripped down before stepping under the stream of hot water.

He was hard. It happened sometimes when he got angry or scared, and it was happening right now. Ted palmed himself, conjuring up an image in his mind: Andromeda, her lips parted, her eyes cast up at him. Andromeda-- who was supposed to marry Rabastan-- squirming beneath him in the same way one of the pictures in his new magazine did. He braced himself against the shower wall, thinking of her as he worked. When he was done and the evidence of his deed was washing down the drain, Ted felt a bit guilty.

He had to stop thinking about her like that. He had to work with her for the rest of the year. Ted turned off the water and dried himself off. _Find a new girl, mate._ He thought to himself. _Because Andromeda isn't an option._

~❀~

Life settled into a surprising level of comfort for Andromeda after the staircase encounter with Ted Tonks. They took turns heading down to the greenhouse in the morning to water their mandrake sprouts, but other than waiting for the little guys to grow, they had little reason to interact in class. The space was necessary. She didn’t think she could handle a close partnership with Ted when her insides still did a little flip every time she saw him.

Rabastan was able to be staved off with a few chaste kisses a week. Andromeda avoided the common room in the evenings when Rabastan lurked around, hoping to corner her by the dark fireside. Mid-September she convinced Narcissa to drop a hint to Rabastan that Andromeda was waiting until the wedding, and after that Rabastan stopped waiting up for her.

At the first of October, the first Hogsmeade visit of the year was announced for the weekend before Halloween. Third years were given new life by the news, but Andromeda was far too used to Hogsmeade to care much. And then Pyxis got a new boyfriend, Diogenes Diggle, and life was officially normal.

The night before the Hogsmeade visit, Pyxis left dinner early to go snog her new paramour in some dark corner of the Ravenclaw common room, and Andromeda made her way down to the prefect’s bathroom for a relaxing bubble bath. She stripped down and sat at the edge of the tub, pouring colorful scented bubbles into the small pool, and then she stepped in and let the hot water cover her body and soothe her tired back. Hunching over essays and textbooks really took its toll.

There was a little ledge at the back of the tub that Andromeda could lay back on. If she propped her head up on the edge of the tub, she could close her eyes and relax without her head sinking below the sea of magically resilient bubbles. Her mind wandered from school assignments to her success at repelling Rabastan to… Ted.

Against her better judgement, Andromeda pictured Ted sitting across the way, watching her through those narrow eyes. She wondered if he had much hair on his chest. The mental image made a warmth bud within her, one that was very different than the heat caused by the hot bath. She slipped her hand down between her legs and touched her thigh.

“Nope,” Andromeda sat up straight and raised her hand above the water. Indulging in fantasies about Ted was not going to make the situation better. She knew that as soon as she let her mind wander down that path, she was screwed. She climbed out of the tub and toweled off before getting dressed and leaving the prefect’s bathroom in a hurry. Tension returned to her body.

“There you are,” Rabastan said, spotting her in the torch lit corridor before she could turn around and head the other way. Andromeda was wearing a terry cloth robe over a night gown, and she felt exposed in front of her fiancé. “Narcissa suggested you might be down this way.”

“One of the perks of prefectdom,” she said, summoning her plastic smile. “A bathtub glorious enough to make you wish you’d behaved better your first few years.”

Rabastan smiled. “Ah, but then I wouldn’t have had so much fun.” He moved in close to kiss Andromeda, and she was acutely aware of how close his body was to hers. “Why don’t you show me that bathroom,” he whispered near her ear, “Make me jealous.”

Andromeda stepped back and shook her head. “They didn’t make me head girl so I could sneak boys into the bathroom,” she said.

“Why do you have to be so behaved all the time?” His dark eyes flashed dangerously in the torchlight. Andromeda resisted the urge to laugh. If he only knew that her rebellion was snogging a muggleborn. The only reason he’d even gotten to kiss her was because she was so behaved. So dutiful.

“Rabastan,” she said, deciding to lay down the law. Narcissa’s interference had bought her a few weeks, but the way he kept closing the distance between them told Andromeda that her period of effect was over. “I know what you want and I’m going to have to put my foot down. My family—”

“Oh come on,” he growled, looking agitated. “You don’t think Bellatrix waited until marriage, do you? She and Rodolphus were going at it like rabbits every chance they got at Hogwarts.”

“I’m not Bellatrix,” Andromeda snapped, and she felt just as surprised by her own tone as Rabastan looked.

“No,” he said with an eye roll. “I suppose you’re not.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.” A strange mix of emotions flooded Andromeda, all of them making her heart thunder in her ears. He was annoyed with her, and part of that felt like victory because she wanted nothing to do with him. The other emotion taking control was panic. She couldn’t push him too far or she’d hear it from her family. “Bella made her choice,” she said. “But I’ve chosen to wait. To make it special. I hope you can respect that.”

Rabastan turned his back to her, resigned. Andromeda wondered how a person could feel so much relief and so much anxiety at the same time. What if he tried to break off the engagement because she was cold to him. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Wouldn’t her father be so furious? Of course if she only told him what Rabastan was pushing for… but would they believe her? She had to make sure he still thought she was interested in him, so she called after, “Are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?”

He stopped, hands in his pockets, a scowl on his lips. “Can’t. McGonagall gave me Saturday detention. The bitch.”

“What did you do?”

“Knocked a first year into the path of that new tree,” he said, referring to the deadly tree Dumbledore had warned them about on the first day. Andromeda’s mouth fell open. He really was a psychopath.

“Well, that’s too bad,” she said, trying to cover her shock. “If you’d behaved you could have spent the day with me.”

“Rain check. Next time,” he said. “I’ll buy you a fire-whiskey and get you good and sloshed.”

“Next time,” she said. “That’ll probably be right around my birthday.”

“Then I better start shopping for fancy jewelry,” he said, and the wicked smile came back. Oh great, Andromeda thought. He thinks he’ll get to shag me for my birthday. How many times was this guy going to have to hear no?

“I’m going to take the long way back,” Andromeda said, pointing down the other end of the hall, “Circle by the fat lady and make sure no Gryffindors are sneaking out. It’s almost curfew. You'd better hurry back.”

“Alright head girl,” he said. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Rabastan,” Andromeda said, and then she slipped down the dark hall as far away from Rabastan as she could get.

~❀~

Saturday morning came with more excitement than Ted had anticipated. When he arrived at the Great Hall he saw that instead of the normal Hogsmeade buzz, everything was clumped together looking at The Daily Prophet.

“What is it?” Ted asked, rushing to where Steven and Amos sat with the special edition.

“Big muggle attack,” Amos said. And he whispered, “Voldemort,” before looking back down at the paper.

“Where?” Ted asked.

Steven passed him the paper and Ted read aloud:

> SELF-DECLARED DARK LORD STRIKES AGAIN
> 
> LONDON, The Ministry of Magic is responding to the most deadly attack on muggles since Grindewald. The dark wizard known as Voldemort is claiming responsibility for an attack on the muggle village of Puddle that killed every resident of the ninety-two person village. Poison was used in the attack and the Dark Mark, a symbol of a skull and serpent, was left over the site. Puddle is the closest muggle settlement to the wizarding town of Puddlemere, ten miles south of Puddletown on the edge of the forest.
> 
> In a statement owled to The Daily Prophet, Voldemort’s followers, The Death Eaters, claimed that the village was eradicated in interest of protecting Puddlemere from the encroaching muggle territory. Construction of a shopping structure and housing development in Puddle was set to begin in the spring. Muggle liaisons to the ministry suspect that the new construction would have vastly grown the population of the village and that some clearing of the forest around Puddlemere would have had to take place.
> 
> The ministry will be working overtime to cover-up this latest attack and keep it from the notice of the muggle media.

"Holy shit," Ted said, putting the paper down on the table. A whole town. Women and children. What would they tell the muggles? Why couldn't they stop these guys?

There were some days when Ted wondered why he had accepted his letter. Sure, magic was awesome, but a large portion of this world didn't want him in it. Why was he here?

Steven gripped Ted's shoulder. Ted locked eyes with him, and they exchanged looks that said enough. Amos and Steven were from wizarding families, but they got it. They had enough empathy to understand. Ted was scared, and they were scared for him. "They'll catch the bastards now, I'm sure of it," Steven said.

Ted nodded. "Yeah. I mean, they've got to right?"

Amos nodded. "Yeah. Come on. Let's eat."

And the three sat down and had breakfast in silence. The excitement ballooning inside him about their day trip was gone. Or maybe it was still there, but filled with something heavier. Dread sat in his gut like a lead balloon.

~❀~

“My God,” Andromeda said, handing the paper back to Narcissa. “Ninety-two people.”

“At least Puddlemere is safe,” Olivia said.

Andromeda’s jaw dropped and her brow furrowed. “There were kids there, you—”

“It’s absolutely tragic,” Narcissa interjected, stopping her older sister from cursing out her friend. “How will they keep it from the muggles?”

Andromeda shot Olivia a death glare and moved to the other end of the table. Her excitement about a day out of the castle had soured. This kind of thing had been going on for over a year and growing more frequent, and the worst part was that she could imagine her mother and father reading this same article at breakfast and saying things like, “Well his methods could use work, but at least someone’s doing something to stop the muggles from taking over.”

Andromeda’s eyes fell on Sirius, who scowled into a bowl of oatmeal at the Gryffindor table. She crossed the Great Hall and sat down next to him, ignoring the glares of the Gryffindors around them.

“You okay?”

Sirius looked up, his big brown eyes shining. “Yeah,” he said. He faked a smile and sniffed back tears. Whatever Andromeda’s parents were saying this morning, she knew Sirius’s mother was a hundred percent on board for Voldemort’s plans. Andromeda wouldn’t be surprised if she was one of the masked witches and wizards along for the ride, if the old bitch could keep up. Andromeda mentally scolded herself for the nasty thought.

“Did someone say something to you?” she asked, protectively.

“It’s fine,” Sirius said. “I mean, it’s— our parents wouldn’t do this, would they?”

Andromeda didn’t want to lie to Sirius. And her silence said enough for him.

“We’re not our parents, right?” she said. “And the Death Eaters are probably much younger. They were probably people like Bellatrix and Rodolphus.

“Yeah,” Sirius said with a smile. “My mother hasn’t raised a finger to do anything in years. Kreacher does it all.”

“Too lazy to be a murderer,” Andromeda said, and though it was a little funny, the circumstances were too grim to laugh. “I wouldn’t tell Rabastan if someone is giving you a hard time because I’m convinced he might actually seriously hurt them,” Andromeda said.

Sirius nodded. “He pushed my friend Peter into the Whomping Willow.”

Yep. That was her fiancé. Andromeda cringed.

“But you’d tell me if you were being bothered by someone. Right?”

“Sure,” Sirius said. Andromeda was pretty sure he was lying.

“Good,” she said. “Now stay out of trouble while I'm in Hogsmeade today, okay? I’ll bring you back some chocolate.” She knew that was a tall order. Sirius never met trouble he didn’t look for.

Andromeda went back to the dungeons after breakfast to get a coat and an empty school bag to fill up with candy. She met Pyxis in the entrance hall and then helped lead the procession down the road to Hogsmeade. Once they were inside the village, Pyxis burst into a gushing monologue about how sweet and thoughtful her boyfriend, Diogenes, was. Andromeda filled Pyxis in on her encounter with Rabastan the previous evening. Pyxis didn’t ask her why she didn't break off the engagement. Her family wasn’t one of the legendary pureblooded lines, but she was wise enough about the world they lived in to understand Andromeda’s situation.

“Maybe he’ll get trampled by a dragon before your wedding day,” she mused as they picked over the racks at Gladrag’s looking for new clothing. Andromeda held up a gray wool half-cape with a bright green ribbon trim on the edge, and Pyxis gave a thumbs up. “Or he could run away with another man and start a life in Paris.”

Andromeda laughed. “No, I’m afraid he’s the last man you’d expect to catch at buggery.”

“I’m sure there’s a libido-killing potion you could put in his breakfast tea,” Pyxis suggested, and Andromeda wondered how many women had tried such a thing throughout history.

At lunch time they met up with Diogenes, and after lunch Andromeda, feeling like a third wheel, split off from the pair to explore Dervish and Banges for a gift for Sirius. Then, remembering Sirius’s younger brother, Regulus, she nipped back into Honeydukes for treat to owl to him at home.

It was near the end of the day that Andromeda decided to take a walk alone, so she turned up the road that passed a row of abandoned houses. There had been a fire on the row a few years ago and nobody had rebuilt.

That was when she saw him. He was with friends.

~❀~

Ted was listening to Amos and Steven energetically discuss brooms when he noticed her walking up the path. He kept an eye on Andromeda as he pretended to listen. She, in turn, pretended not to notice them as she sat down on a nearby rock wall, but Ted caught her gaze darting his way. He smiled. Ted continued walking with his friends, glancing back over his shoulder a few times at Andromeda, who had several shopping bags placed at her feet.

“Come on, let’s go see the new Cleansweep. I’ve asked for one for Christmas,” Amos said.

“If my brother buys one, he said he’ll give me his five,” Steven bragged.

“You guys go,” Ted said. “I don’t care much for brooms.”

“Oh come on,” Amos said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and shaking him. “Ladies love a seeker.”

“I’m afraid I’m rather rubbish in the air. You guys go. I need to find my mum a birthday gift before it’s too dark.”

The guys left Ted, who did not go off to shop for a birthday gift but instead went to sit on the wall next to Andromeda, placing a few of his own paper bags at his feet. Andromeda had started sorting through her purchases for the day and stopped to look around and make sure nobody else had come down this way to spot them talking.

“Sweet tooth?” he asked, glancing down into her bag.

“Little cousin,” she replied. “Someone has to spoil him.”

Ted reached into a bag and pulled out a small bottle of Ogden’s Old Firewhiskey. It was contraband at school, but nothing stopped a wizard over sixteen from drinking it in the village. Ted opened the bottle and took a sip, wincing as it went down, before passing the bottle to Andromeda. It burned like the devil going down, but it settled warm in his stomach and the heat radiated through all his limbs. She hesitated before tipping it back and taking a large swig.

“You have to finish this or dump it before you get back to the castle,” she said, handing the bottle back.

He took another drink and held it open in his lap. “Yes, mam.”

They sat in silence looking at the boarded-up and rotting house across the street. The sun was setting, and a few bats flapped around the structure in the twilight.

“I needed this today,” Ted said.

“The Prophet?” Andromeda asked.

“Yeah.” He took a sip of the whiskey and handed it back to Andromeda. She didn’t hesitate this time. “Do you have any idea how strange it is to suddenly one morning get a visit from an old bearded man who looks like a storybook character and to learn that there’s a whole world you never knew existed right under your nose?”

Andromeda thought about it for a moment. Of course she couldn't imagine it. How could she? This was the world as she had always known it. “Dumbledore?”

“He was just a Professor then,” Ted said. “Since that morning I’ve sort of… not belonged anywhere.”

Andromeda looked over at him. He stared out at the crumbling house, wondering what would happen if they didn't stop Voldemort. They were targeting muggles. Eventually the muggles would notice. These people were clear in their feelings about mixing blood. How long before they turned their violence on someone like him?

“At home I’m the mysterious wizard boy," he said. "I lie to my muggle friends about where I go every school year. They think I’m at a performing arts academy. And then I come here and wankers like your boyfriend try to hex me because I wasn’t born one of them.”

“Fiancé,” she said. "Apparently he shoved a firstie into the Willow this week.”

Ted looked back at Andromeda as she took another great swig from the bottle of firewhiskey. He took the bottle from her hands and screwed the cap back on. “I think that’s enough,” he said.

Her cheeks were flushed and she was looking at him in a way that made Ted want to grab her and snog her brains out. She twisted her hands together in her lap, keeping every part of her body pulled in tight as if he was somehow dangerous.

“What do you want, Andromeda?” he asked.

She blinked, obviously surprised by that question. “What?”

“I mean not… not anything to do with me. Just, if you had all the freedom in the world to live your life the way you dreamed it, what would you do with it? I know you don’t want to marry Rabastan and be a pureblooded baby factory. What do you want?”

Andromeda hesitated, her eyes going up in thought. “I wanted to be a healer when I was younger,” she admitted, her voice soft and slow. “I like potions and herbology and using things in nature to help people.”

Ted smiled. He slipped the bottle of firewhiskey back into his paper bag, and he knew Andromeda knew he wasn’t going to dispose of it before returning to the castle.

“How about you?” she asked, looking away from the contraband, choosing to ignore it. “Apparently you suck at flying, and you’re not a prefect. So what are you interested in?”

“Journalism,” he said.

“Journalism? You want to write for The Daily Prophet?”

Ted shook his head. “I mean that wouldn’t be a bad start, but I found out about this job they have. The ministry needs muggleborns in government and media to keep the lid on muggle secrecy. Did you know the Prime Minister of Muggles knows about us?”

“Does he?”

“Yup. Edward Heath is totally in on the secret, poor bloke. And there are muggleborn wizards all over making sure people like him don’t blab. I’m quite good at memory charms and—”

“And you’re incredibly charming,” Andromeda said.

Ted winked. “Half Richard Baker, half James Bond.”

Andromeda blinked.

“Oh bloody hell, you don’t get any of my allusions.” How was Ted supposed to flirt if half the jokes he made went over her head?

“And yet I still find you tolerable.”

Andromeda opened up a little cardboard box of fudge and offered a piece to Ted. He took a square with walnuts in it and quietly chewed. A chirping chorus of crickets had begun to sing. It was nearly time to head back. Her cheeks were still pink and Ted hoped none of the professors would notice that their head girl was a little tipsy.

“I’ve been watching you… in class,” Ted admitted. “Not like a stalker. Just… you keep to yourself. You’re very quiet. Usually the head girl and head boy are a lot bossier.”

Andromeda started on a second piece of fudge. No reply.

“You’re always doing what you’re supposed to do,” he added, rising from the wall. “Just make sure you’re not so dutiful that you forget to live your life.” Ted reached into the box and grabbed another cube of fudge.

He walked backwards towards the road, keeping his hazel eyes trained on Andromeda. After a few steps he turned and walked up the road. He hadn't even wanted another piece of fudge; he just thought it would be a good way to punctuate the moment. As he walked up the road he forced himself to look straight ahead. He hoped she was watching him. He hoped she had been thinking about him too.


	6. Narcissa's Miracle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Narcissa brings Andromeda some good news.

**Chapter Six:**   
**Narcissa's Miracle**

Andromeda thought a lot about her conversation with Ted over the next few weeks. It didn’t bolster her spirits, though. Instead it contributed to an ever-worsening depression. Her life wasn’t her own. It was never going to get better. She wasn’t simple like Narcissa and able to distract herself with precious stones and party planning. She was going to be painfully aware of how miserable she was for the next century, stuck with Rabastan Lestrange, going to family dinners with Bella and Rodolphus.

Her mood didn’t improve with the mountains of homework or the graying skies outside. November was cold and dreary, and the sun barely showed its face on the lawn of the castle. Andromeda stopped reading for pleasure and started going to bed early when she didn't have patrol. And then one Wednesday night, when she was about to finish her shift down by the library, she hit rock bottom.

She heard them giggling before she saw them. The sixth year boy and girl who were liaising down at the library were terrible at sneaking around, and all it took was a quick Lumos to startle the girl into screaming. Andromeda recognize the girl as a Gryffindor and the boy as a Hufflepuff. She sighed and shook her head. “Okay, so here’s what’s going to happen…”

Before she could finish, the girl took off running. Andromeda groaned and aimed her wand to stun the fleeing sixth year. Her boyfriend, ever the loyal Hufflepuff, put up a shield. Andromeda flicked her wand, and in a moment, the boyfriend was flat against the ceiling of the corridor cursing wildly.

“I know what you look like,” she called after the Gryffindor as she ran away. “You’re supposed to be brave!”

She looked up at the boy in his pajamas and released the charm. He slammed into the floor and bloodied his nose on the carpet, but Andromeda was too tired to feel bad. “Skeleton death eater bitch,” he grumbled as climbed to his feet.

Oh now she cared. Andromeda felt awake for the first time in days. “Excuse me?”

The Hufflepuff stood up straight, blood covering his lip, mouth, and chin. His name came to mind. Amos. She really should have healed him, but blood was hammering so loudly in her eardrums that she couldn’t hear herself think.

“Go ahead. Hex me. Give me a year’s detention. You’ll always just be Rabastan Lestrange’s breed mare.”

Andromeda raised her wand, intending to do something awful. She ran over all of the nastiest spells that she knew would get the head girl badge stripped away, and then she froze. Wasn’t he right? Would cursing his face off make it any less true?

“Get the hell out of here,” she said. He hesitated. “Get the _fuck _out of here,” she said. “Don’t let me see you here again or so help me god, I will do something awful.” Amos Diggory turned and ran after his girlfriend.

Andromeda trudged back towards the dungeons. She ignored the study group by the fire as she dragged her feet into her dorm and climbed into bed. She didn’t bother change out of her school robes. Tears were silently streaming down her face when she closed her eyes, and the ache in her chest persisted as she drifted off to sleep.

~❀~

Amos had a girlfriend now, Steven had lots of girls he was snogging, and Ted had a dry spell. He needed to get out of it. He was sitting by the fire one night, not reading his schoolbook, when Amos came into the dorm after curfew, blood smeared all over his chin.

"What the hell?" Steven yelled, leaping a sofa to meet him.

"Lestrange's whore!" Amos shouted, his face red. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. The bleeding had stopped, but he was a mess.

Ted tensed. He knew exactly whom Amos was talking about, and he didn't like it.

"What happened?" Steven asked.

"I was out with Miranda... we stayed out too late and the head girl caught us," Amost said, pinching his nose and wincing. Steven gestured for him to sit down. Amos was tall and broad-- a beater-- and he was acting like a baby. "She hexed me."

"Andromeda Black hexed you?" Ted asked, finding his voice.

"Yeah... we bolted, and she pinned me to the ceiling. When she let me go, I came right down on my face."

Steven snorted and then apologized. "Sorry. But the image of you just going splat--"

"It really fucking hurt!" Amos said. "Bitch."

Ted shook his head. "Alright, calm down. You don't need to use that word."

"What are you, a prefect now?" Amos asked.

"I just don't like people talking about women like that," Ted said, and he could hear how defensive he sounded.

"Whatever. She's not a woman, she's a harpy. The bloody Black sisters," Amos raved. "Anyone who would let Rabastan Lestrange stick it in them--"

Ted wanted to correct him, to tell him that Andromeda wasn't sleeping with Rabastan, but then they'd want to know how he knew that. They'd use it to pick on Rabastan. And Ted wasn't a hundred percent sure it was true.

"She's..." Ted got quiet. "She's my herbology partner. I don't think she really goes along with all that pureblood stuff."

"Alright Ted," Amos said, rolling his eyes. "You got a stiffy for Andromeda Black. She fucking hexed me."

"Stay still and shut up, will you?" Steven asked, his wand aimed at Amos's face. He cast a charm and Amos shouted as his nose snapped back into place. Another charm cleaned his face and left his lip looking red. "Sorry, my cleaning charms lack finesse."

Ted picked up his book and turned to go to bed.

"Hey," Steven called after him. "You okay?"

Ted turned back and faked a smile. "Yeah," he said. Why was he lying to his best friend? "Tired. Goodnight."

Amos continued ranting as Ted left the commons. Why did he care what his friends thought of Andromeda? She wasn't ever going to be with him. She wasn't ever going to even be friendly with him once they left this place. He needed to move on from this obsession.

Maybe tomorrow morning he would talk to Steven about helping him find a girlfriend. Ted realized as he changed for bed that he had been waiting around for Andromeda to come to her senses. But that was just as likely as Ted becoming Minister of Magic.

~❀~

Andromeda didn’t get out of bed the next morning. Instead she decided to take a sick day. She found enough energy to throw off her robes in the morning before burrowing back under her blankets and drifting back to sleep.

By lunch time she had been sleeping so long that her head pounded. She thought about getting up and looking for a glass to conjure water into, but the bed was warm and the world beyond her green bed curtains was crap.

And then heels clicked on the stone steps beyond the dorm and the door opened. Andromeda peeked beyond the curtain to see Narcissa looking in.

“There you are!” Narcissa said, looking extremely upset about something. Her normally immaculate blonde hair was coming loose from its bun at the back, and her forehead was crinkled with a frown. “Are you sick?”

“Yeah,” Andromeda lied. If she were really sick, she would be down in the hospital wing.

“Oh no. Here. Your lips are all dry and awful,” she said. She disappeared into the seventh year girls’ bathroom and came back with a green marble cup filled with water. Andromeda drank it all while Narcissa pulled back the curtain and sat on the end of the bed. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Headache,” Andromeda said, and it wasn’t a lie. How did she explain to Narcissa, their father’s precious flower, that her life was a dead end without choices? No wonder some people joined up with Voldemort. It was an awful choice, but it was a choice.

Narcissa sat at Andromeda’s feet and twisted her fingers together. She was worried about something, and realizing this snapped Andromeda out of her own funk for a moment. Narcissa hardly showed it when she was upset. She must have been really bothered.

“What’s wrong?” Andromeda asked. “What happened?” She was still wearing the necklace, so Lucius hadn’t done something.

“Don’t hate me, I’m just the bearer of bad news,” Narcissa began.

“I’m not— why would I hate you?”

Narcissa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. And then she started spilling a story so quickly that had Andromeda wanted to interject, she wouldn’t have known how to get a word in.

“So last week Olivia started really getting freaked out because, well she didn’t tell me why she was just being weird and sneaking off all the time, and then I caught her talking to this Ravenclaw who she would never normally talk to because this girl is halfblood and a total creepy four-eyed nerd, but the halfblood is really good at potions and I was all Olivia, you have to tell me what the hell is going on because I’m starting to worry that you’re up to something and Olivia started sobbing and telling me this story about how she was really late for her period and I was all Olivia, who did you have sex with? And Olivia said it was Rabastan.”

She took a deep breath and seemed to brace herself for Andromeda to explode. Andromeda took a moment to process the wave of verbiage, making sure she got it right. Olivia needed a potion because she thought she was knocked up by Rabastan?

“Wait, is she pregnant?” Andromeda asked.

“Oh, no, she got her period last night. Witch is just too skinny. But you heard me, right? Rabastan is _cheating _on you.”

Andromeda burst out laughing. Narcissa just watched in horror as tears streamed from Andromeda’s face. She had expected Andromeda to be mad. She sincerely thought this news would upset Andromeda.

“Why are you laughing? Aren’t you mad?”

Andromeda threw her arms around her little sister and hugged her. She was too relieved not to share her joy with someone. “Narcissa,” she gasped, wiping her eyes. “This is my escape!”

“What?”

“Oh come on,” Andromeda lifted a bed sheet to wipe her eyes. She hadn’t removed her makeup the night before, and her eyeliner smudged on the white linen. “Rabastan is horrible. He’s going to end up in Azkaban for murder some day. He almost killed a Gryffindor kid a few weeks ago. He’s the worst.”

“But daddy…”

“Daddy knows his father, but he doesn’t known _Rabastan_,” Andromeda explained. “I’ve been fucking miserable about having to marry him, and now we have an out. You chose Lucius. I didn't choose Rabastan. You write and tell Daddy exactly what you just told me and I’m free.”

Narcissa looked completely baffled. Andromeda had never loved her sister more. “You’re not hurt that he cheated on you?”

“No! Not even a little bit. I’m so relieved.”

Narcissa chewed her lip, obviously focusing hard on this puzzle. “Yes, I suppose if you married him and then he went to Azkaban, that would be quite terrible.”

“Quite,” Andromeda said, climbing out of bed and digging through her trunk for her bathrobe. She needed a bath to feel human again, but it felt like a weight had been lifted from her back. She pulled the engagement ring off of her left hand and handed it to Narcissa. She had been wearing it long enough for it to leave an indentation in her ring finger. “Send this to Daddy in the letter, please.”

Narcissa stood up and walked towards the door. It was clear she had been expecting this to go very differently, but now she just looked down at the ring in her hand, her mouth agape.

“Narcissa,” Andromeda said. “Thank you.”

“Olivia is out,” Narcissa said, “By the way. Viola and Maria agreed that sleeping with your fiancé was unforgivable.”

“You do whatever you need to,” Andromeda said, sliding into her bathrobe and following Narcissa to the door. She kissed Narcissa on the head and skirted around her.

The world was in color again. Rabastan was out.


	7. Andromeda's Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda brings the good news to Ted and forms a new arrangement.

**Chapter Seven:**   
**Andromeda's Secret**

  
Ted sat in his spot by the fire working on his Herbology essay. He hadn't spoken to Amos since Amos had come in with the bloody nose, and he was considering tracking him down to hang out. He didn't want to apologize because he wasn't sure Amos was even aware Ted had been silently cursing him all day. He just wanted to feel normal again.

"Well the girl who told me isn't the type to lie about that sort of thing," someone behind Ted whispered. The funny thing about trying to be sneaky was that if you did it poorly, you drew more attention to yourself. Ted realized that the girls behind him were trying to be discreet. So of course he listened.

"Who told you?"

"Angela Walker."

"Oooh," the other girl said, as if that put everything in perspective. "And who did she say it was?"

"Rabastan Lestrange."

Ted perked up. He turned around to see who was talking, and the two younger girls realized they had been heard. They were fifth years. He smiled. "Hi, sorry... what happened to Rabastan Lestrange?"

"Oh, we don't mean to gossip," one of the girls said, her face turning red.

"No, please," Ted said. "Wanker hexes me every chance he gets for being a muggleborn. I just hope it was terrible."

"Oh, well..." she hesitated. "Rumor coming from Ravenclaw house is he got a girl pregnant."

Andromeda? Ted felt a stabbing pain in his gut.

"Yeah," the other girl added. "And Narcissa Black is losing it because he was supposed to marry her sister but he slept with her friend instead."

Ted felt the cool sensation of tension washing from his neck and head. He laughed. "Oh? Wait, isn't her little posse a bunch of fifth years?" Rabastan was shagging fifth years? That was low.

They both nodded.

Ted got up from his seat and stretched. He felt good. Light, suddenly. If everyone knew, surely that was a good enough excuse to break the engagement, even if it was "tradition" as Andromeda had called it. "Well, you ladies have a good night," he said. It was late. He couldn't leave to find Andromeda, but he suddenly felt like he wanted to move about, to talk to people.

Steven and Amos had just finished their post-practice showers and entered the common room. Ted approached them, arms raised. "Did you hear? Rabastan Lestrange knocked-up a fifth year!"

"No shit!" Amos shouted.

The trio of friends found a corner with comfy velvet couches to sit in and gripe about Rabastan, and all was well again. Ted thought that as long as Amos didn't go off on Andromeda, he would be happy for the rest of the night.

~❀~

Friday morning Andromeda received an owl from Bellatrix at breakfast as she cheerfully devoured a plate of bacon and eggs.

> Dear Andromeda,
> 
> I’m sorry to hear that our father has broken your engagement to Rabastan. I am doing my best to keep distance between our father and Rodolphus until Daddy has calmed down. This is going to put a strain on Christmas, but I am sure all will be well when Daddy makes you a new match. I love my brother-in-law, but he is incredibly impulsive.
> 
> There aren’t a lot of men left our age that meet our family’s standard, but perhaps when you and Daddy have had some time to recover, you’ll consider forgiving Rabastan. The girl isn’t pregnant, and she was a pureblood.
> 
> Love,
> 
> B.L.

Pyxis came flying into the seat next to Andromeda before she could fold up the letter and tuck it away. “Narcissa told me you broke up with Rabastan!”

Andromeda grinned. “Narcissa is my guardian angel.”

“So it’s true? He cheated?”

Andromeda nodded. “That was enough for my father. We are his three perfect girls and must be treated as queens.”

Pyxis pointed as an owl swooped in and dropped a red envelope down the end of the Slytherin table. She wasn’t the only person to note the arrival of a dreaded howler. Rabastan looked up from his breakfast with a sleepy expression, but when his eyes fell on the envelope at his plate, he grabbed it and sprinted from the Great Hall before it could go off. “This is mad,” Pyxis said. “The drama!”

“Isn’t it great?” Andromeda beamed.

“Woah there, try to look wounded,” Pyxis said.

Pyxis and Andromeda gossiped about Olivia’s pregnancy scare for a few minutes before Andromeda picked up her bag to head down to the greenhouse. She had to ask Professor Sprout what she missed in Herbology yesterday before heading back to the castle for charms. Pyxis followed along.

Sprout let Andromeda know that Ted had successfully repotted four of their five sprouts (one had failed to thrive and shriveled) and that they were right on course for a successful leaf harvest come spring. Andromeda knew from her textbook that they were very delicate at this stage, not quite the screaming muddy babies from their second year exercise, and she was relieved she had Ted to rely on to get the job done.

Andromeda accepted an assignment of six inches of parchment about the lifecycle of a mandrake as makeup for missing a repotting day and headed back to the castle just as breakfast let out. She stayed busy all through Defense Against the Dark Arts as Professor Branch gave an hour and a half of copious notes on werewolves, and then spent lunch silently listening to Narcissa, Maria, and Viola rant about how terrible their former friend was. Andromeda felt a little pang of pity for the girl, but it couldn’t possibly eclipse her own relief about ditching Rabastan.

After lunch they had Charms. Andromeda arrived at the classroom to see that an elaborate maze was set up in the room with colorful rats running its course. They were practicing memory charms, and they had to make their assigned rodent forget the location of a piece of cheese without making him also forget the traps.

Andromeda picked up a green rat (she had an obvious affinity for the color even if she wasn’t the biggest Slytherin cheerleader). Ted Tonks approached her. “Need a partner?” He asked. His gaze flicked down to her left hand and the absent ring. Her heart started hammering in her chest, the traitor.

“I get to name the rat,” she said.

“Fair is fair,” Ted said, reaching out to take it from Andromeda. “Something like Clover? Kelly?”

“Iphigenia,” she suggested.

“You like those mouthfuls of syllables, huh?”

Ted placed the rat back in the maze as Flitwick set fresh cheese. It ran the exact path to the food and grabbed a morsel before Andromeda summoned the rat back into her hands. “You go first?”

Ted had said he was good at memory charms, and he proved it. He scrunched up his lip and focused before saying "obliviate" and tapping the rat on the head. Its eyes grew foggy for a moment, and when he set the rat down, it wandered the maze, lost but remembering to avoid the traps. They would have to give it a few moments to relearn the path before Andromeda could have a go.

“So,” Ted said, sitting on a nearby desk and gesturing to her hand. “The rumors are true?”

“People are gossiping about me?”

“Yes, and, well, the howler went off in the entrance hall while I was coming in for breakfast. Hard not to hear.”

“It’s true,” she said.

“I’ve never seen a woman smile about being cheated on,” Ted said, amused.

Andromeda checked her expression and put on a frown.

“Your smile is much prettier when it’s real,” Ted said. Andromeda was sure she blushed.

Her mind drifted back to that conversation on the stairs in September. He had made a comment in parting about not wanting to be the other man, but being plenty fine with being her rebellion against her parents. Now that Rabastan was cleared from the picture, who would she be hurting if she snogged Ted Tonks? He seemed okay with the idea of being used in that way.

Andromeda’s turn came with nearly as much success (the rat did forget one of the traps and almost ran into) and soon the class was over. She stayed after to help Flitwick cage the rats. It would be an hour or two until dinner, so she thought maybe she could hit the library to get ahead on her Alchemy work for Monday.

As Andromeda walked down the corridor, her eyes on a book in her fingers, a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. She yelped as she was tugged into an empty classroom and crashed straight into Ted.

~❀~

Andromeda braced her hands on Ted's chest and looked up at him. The book she had been holding was somewhere on the floor behind her, but all Ted could think about was how great it felt to touch her again. She looked happy. She smelled amazing. “Hey,” he said with a devilish smile.

“Hi,” she replied in an almost whisper.

Ted slid his hands around her back, pulling her delicate frame against him. “So,” he started, licking his lips. “I’ve given this a lot of thought. I know you’re too obedient to ever defy your parents and date a muggleborn. And in theory that should really piss me off.”

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, and she looked at his mouth. Ted knew she wanted to kiss him again. Or at least he hoped.

“But I keep thinking about that kiss, and for some reason I’m oddly okay with being your secret, now that there’s no boyfriend to cheat on, if you’re into that.” He didn't know how long it could last, but he thought it might be nice to pretend for a while that her family wasn't awful and there was no pure-blooded society keeping them apart.

Andromeda threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him down to kiss him.

Her lips parted and his tongue pushed roughly against hers. She sighed and relaxed against him as his hands braced her back. He lost track of time as she kissed him, just kissed him. Had ten minutes passed or an hour? When she pulled away, her lips were puffy and her lipstick was gone. Ted realized he was probably wearing it all over his mouth. He pushed her light brown hair away from her face and pressed his forehead against hers.

“Our secret, right?” she asked, her voice sounding nervous. She didn't have to worry about him. Who would believe him anyway if she denied it?

“Yeah,” he said. “Secret.” He tipped his chin forward and kissed her again, and they lost track of time once more. They only came to their senses when a first year class up the corridor let out and a stream of students came flooding past the classroom, chatting and shouting.

“Oy, Snape!” Ted heard through the door. “You and me, duel!”

“Oh shit, that’s my little cousin,” Andromeda cursed, pulling away. “I have to—”

“You go do your head girl thing,” Ted said, reaching out and using his thumb to wipe the edge of her lip line so nobody would know what she'd just been doing. He leaned back against a desk. “I’ll wait here until the coast is clear.”

Ted watched her go, her long hair swaying as she turned the corner out the door. The situation wasn't ideal, but he was undeniably happy. He hung out in the empty room for a few minutes after the hall fell silent. He needed a moment to calm down before returning to the real world.


	8. The Pen Pal

**Chapter Eight:**   
**The Pen Pal**

Andromeda and Ted met in empty classrooms all through December, blowing off steam by ferociously snogging until their lips were numb. Their lips had time to recover when the train came to head home for Christmas break. Andromeda sat with Pyxis on the ride home (Pyxis had broken-up with Diogenes Diggle) and wrapped Christmas presents she’d bought in Hogsmeade.

“Alright,” Pyxis said when the compartment door was closed and the train was chugging along. “You’re seeing someone.”

Andromeda attempted her best Who Me? face but came up short.

“You go to class wearing lipstick, all dressed up even during exams, and then I see you coming from the opposite direction, late, without any lipstick on.”

“You Ravenclaws are so observant,” Andromeda said, folding perfect corners on a box of candy quaffles for Regulus.

“Who is he?” Pyxis asked, sitting opposite Andromeda and locking her in a determined stare. “I tell you everything. I even told you about Diogenes’s weird fixation on butt stuff.”

“And I will never forgive you for scarring me in that way.”

“Spill.”

Andromeda looked out the compartment window just to be sure the coast was clear. She had been meaning to tell Pyxis, really she had, but when was it ever safe to discuss? It wasn’t like they shared a dorm or even a house.

“If you tell anyone, I’m dead.”

“Oh, wow, wait, is it… is it like a teacher?”

“What?!” Andromeda shouted.

“No, okay sorry, way off base.”

“Yes that’s way off base. Ew!”

“Hey, you’re an adult now.”

“That’s still a major violation of authority, and our only male Professor who isn’t ancient is a ghost!”

“Sorry, my bad.” Pyxis raised her hands in surrender.

“I’m going to gag,” Andromeda said.

“Stop stalling. Why the secrecy?”

“He’s… muggleborn,” Andromeda said.

“Shit,” Pyxis got up and cast a charm on the compartment door to block all sound. “Your parents—”

“Would go mad, so you can’t tell a soul. It’s just… it’s just a fling. But I needed it.”

“How do I not have any theories as to who this might be right now?”

Andromeda took a deep breath before letting it spill. “It’s Ted Tonks.”

Pyxis stared at Andromeda.

“Say something.”

“Okay, Ted is a fox, but you… you’re so—”

“Behaved?”

“Yes!”

“Yeah, well, I just got tired of not making any choices. So I made one.”

“How are you going to deal with your parents?”

“I’m not,” Andromeda said with warning in her voice. “They are never going to find out. We’re just going to snog each other’s brains out until graduation and go our separate ways and then… hopefully Daddy’s next pick for me won’t be so bad as Lestrange.”

"Just snogging?" she said, disbelief dripping from her words.

"Yes, just snogging," Andromeda said. It had been intense and sometimes Andromeda had left feeling all kinds of worked up, but hands had stayed in appropriate places and Ted was polite enough to pretend her didn't have an erection when they parted ways. "Really fantastic snogging."

“I’m happy for you, really, just… be careful.” Pyxis said, sitting back down. “Can you imagine how Rabastan would react if he found out you were snogging a muggleborn so soon after cutting him loose?”

“The next day, actually.”

“Wow. Alright. Yeah. Waste no time.”

Andromeda filled Pyxis in on the details of the first kiss and their stairway conversation. She left out a lot of their Halloween weekend chat, though. It still seemed too personal.

When the train pulled into the station, Lucius was there with their parents, waiting for Narcissa. The only reason Andromeda hadn’t apparated from Hogsmeade was the fact that Narcissa was still a few weeks shy of seventeen. But it had also been nice to catch up with Pyxis.

The holidays were quiet. Lucius proposed to Narcissa on Christmas Eve (nobody was surprised) and Rodolphus got Bellatrix a Krupp puppy so they could hate muggles together. On Christmas morning Regulus and Sirius came over with their parents and caused enough chaos to last them until next Christmas. On Christmas night when dinner was over, Andromeda left the sitting room covered in confetti and candy wrappers and headed upstairs to her room.

The Black brothers had split an enormous inheritance evenly between them, but Andromeda’s mother had come into her marriage with more money than the both of them put together. While Regulus and Sirius’s father had chosen to live in London, Andromeda’s parents had purchased a manor house in the countryside.

The Black manor was a mansion with twenty four beds and fifty thousand square feet of interior space. It was a dark and dreary old home with narrow windows meant to keep out the cold, but Andromeda’s room, high up, faced south and got enough sunlight by day. It was a large room with a double four-poster bed cut from mahogany at the center of the room. A matching wardrobe and dresser were to one end and a night stand with clawed feet was next to the left side of the bed. There were hardwood floors and a large oriental rug that covered most of the areas of the room except for the stone hearth where a fire crackled. The Black sisters had no posters on their walls, though Andromeda’s dresser, nightstand, and bookshelves overflowed with texts of all kinds.

Now as Andromeda lit the fireplace in her bedroom and changed into a nightgown, snow fell outside. It was a picture-perfect sanctuary with the fire crackling and warmth filling the room. She couldn’t wait to curl up with a new book.

A little tapping at the window disrupted her plans. An unfamiliar owl was waiting with a scroll attached to its foot. Andromeda hurried the little bird in through her window and shut it quickly. Snow melted immediately on the hardwood floor, and she took a moment to wipe it dry so it wouldn’t mark the finish.

The owl flew to the fireside and warmed itself there. Andromeda crossed to retrieve her message and recognize a handwriting she had only seen a few times before. It was from Ted.

> Andromeda,
> 
> I hope your Christmas was good. I’m writing this on Christmas Eve. I’ve been thinking about you all day. It’s snowing, here and my father has absolutely covered the place in fairy lights. If the house burns down tonight I wanted you to know that you looked absolutely amazing in that cherry red lipstick on the train. Quite festive.
> 
> See you in 1972.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Ted

Andromeda grinned and reread the short note. It wasn't much, but as they were merely snogging and not a couple at all, it was quite touching. She made a mental note to be sure to pack her fresh tube of red lipstick when she went back to school.

She thought for a few minutes about what to write before taking out her stationary set and recording a reply.

> Ted,
> 
> Isn’t lipstick futile? I’m never wearing any when you’re done with me.
> 
> Merry Christmas.
> 
> Andromeda

There. Short and sweet. She tied it to the little owl and sent him out the window despite his protests. And then she snuggled up with a book, feeling optimistic about the new year for the first time in a long time.

~❀~

The next day, Ted's little brown owl was clinging to the ledge of his window when he woke up, waiting to be let in. The owl, named Mercury, was tapping furiously on the glass, and the sound roused Ted from a wonderful dream about cake. He rushed to let him inside and took the note. Mercury was being moody with Ted, and he couldn't blame the little guy. It was very cold outside.

Ted read Andromeda's note and smiled. He got out a quill and scribbled a reply.

> Andromeda,
> 
> Done with you? I merely stop myself. I’ve never been done with you.
> 
> Ted

He wondered if that was too honest, but he held his breath and sent Mercury back out into the cold. Too late to take it back now!

Ted was just getting back from getting a drink with his primary school mates that night when the owl returned.

> Ted,
> 
> What are you stopping yourself from doing?
> 
> Andromeda

She wanted to hear his answer. But what if he told her and she got spooked? Andromeda was a good girl. The head girl.

He chickened out and sent a short reply.

> Andromeda,
> 
> Nothing in particular. I thought it just sounded charming. Have a happy New Year!
> 
> Ted

"Coward," he said aloud when the owl flew off into the snow.

But by some miracle, his message was lost. There was a blizzard that night and Ted’s answer didn’t make it through the snow. Twenty four hours came and went before Andromeda's reply arrived by a different owl. Ted was afraid something had happened to Mercury, but Andromeda's note assured him.

> Ted,
> 
> Your owl made it, but the message was lost. I have charmed this note to protect the ink from the snow. I’m keeping your owl here to rest because I think we’ve put the poor thing through enough this week. I’m sorry to say I never got your answer to my question.
> 
> Andromeda

Ted thought this was a sign. His previous cowardly cop-out hadn't made it. Now he had to be honest. He had to take a chance. It was late on the thirtieth. Ted thought about the day after her breakup in the empty classroom, kissing her, holding her, smelling her perfume. Then he closed his eyes and cast his patronus. The silvery blue labrador retriever bounded from his wand and he spoke his message.

“I’m sneaking out around nine on January second. Come give me detention if you must. I’ll be at our spot in the dungeon.” And then the dog was gone and Ted was left with excitement and anxiety coursing through his body. It was going to be a long two days.


	9. The Empty Classroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted and Andromeda take it to the next level.

**Chapter Nine:**   
**The Empty Classroom**

After dinner on the first day back, Andromeda took a long bath in the prefect’s bathroom and redid her makeup. She traced a perfect lip line in the mirror before using the cherry red lipstick Ted had mentioned in his letter. And then she waited and tried to read a book by the fire until nine. Dressed in a knee-length pleated skirt and a blouse with a Peter Pan collar, she tried to pretend it was totally normal being this dressed up so close to bed time.

Most of her classmates were still up as the minute hand slid around to indicate ten minutes to go. Everyone was buzzing from candy and holiday cheer. Andromeda pinned her head girl badge on her blouse as her cover and headed out of the dorm at five minutes till.

Torches crackled on the walls. A third-year rushed into Slytherin house just under the wire for curfew. Andromeda’s heels clicked quietly on the stone floors as she made her way to the little corridor where Andromeda had discovered Ted on the first day of school. He was waiting in the shadow, dressed in excellent denim trousers that showed off his backside and a collared white shirt that looked new. When Andromeda’s figure cast a shadow on the wall behind her, Ted whistled.

“Now clearly someone noticed you leaving the dorms looking like that.”

“I’m always overdressed,” she said, careful to keep her voice low. “Was this your plan for a romantic get together? A cold hallway with mysterious slime on the floor?”

Ted stepped out of the shadows and placed his hands on her hips. He pulled her close and his lips skimmed her jaw before finding the tender spot just below her ear. He placed a gentle kiss on the skin there and whispered. “Let’s find a more private place.” She shuddered.

Every nerve in her body was awake as he pulled away. He took her hand and guided her down the dark hallway, past the potions classroom, past Slughorn’s quarters. The door at the end of the hall was locked, but it was nothing that couldn’t be charmed open by a first year. Andromeda drew her wand and opened the door. The room beyond was an empty classroom where excess furniture had been stacked. Before Andromeda could light her wand to survey her surroundings, Ted’s arms slipped around her middle and pulled her back into his body. He pulled her hair aside and placed a trail of kisses down her neck to her shoulder. She gripped his hands, holding on tight, as heat coursed through her body. She could feel him pressing against her backside, and she liked it.

The line was directly in front of them, and Andromeda was ready to cross it with gusto. “You never told me,” she gasped, “What you were stopping yourself from doing.”

“I could just show you,” he murmured against her neck as his hand slid up her stomach and cupped her left breast. A new touch. It thrilled her. She moaned as he gave her breast a gentle squeeze and then slipped his fingers between the buttons on her blouse, his fingertips unable to reach beneath her bra. “I want to touch you all over,” he said in a shaky voice. “I want to map you with my hands.”

Andromeda turned around and grabbed the back of his head. She stumbled backwards until her legs found a table and sat back. She nibbled gently on his lower lip. Ted began fumbling with the buttons on her blouse, each one taking twice as long to undo than they had to close in the first place. When he reached the bottom and untucked the top from her skirt, he stepped back and lit his wand so he could look at her. The white lace bra was a muggle invention, the most modern piece she owned.

Ted sucked in his breath as he looked down at Andromeda. She sat up straight and reached behind her back, squinting in the stark wand light, to undo the clasp. The bra fell forward, and she was exposed before him. he was the only boy she'd ever let get this far. Nothing had ever felt so dangerous.

“You are gorgeous,” he said.

Andromeda took his hand and placed it on her bare breast. His palm was cold, and she whimpered in surprise. Ted closed the space between them, running his hands across her body and sucking at her neck. She was on her way to unbutton his shirt when his hand landed on her knee just below her skirt and slid along her thigh. He was standing between her legs as she sat on a table, careful to keep his hips back away from hers, but his hands were on a mission, and Andromeda bit her lip with anticipation while he explored.

She knew she should probably stop him, but if even kisses were forbidden, weren't already well over the line? What was just a little further?

His thumb brushed across her through the thin fabric of her underwear and she became acutely aware of how moist she was. She squirmed in place as he found the top of her underwear and slid his hand down inside. His fingers parted the hair and his palm rubbed against her as he found her slit and pushed inside. Andromeda moaned in his ear and gripped his back as a second finger entered her.

“How does that feel?” he asked, beginning to withdraw his fingers and push back inside her in gentle, slow strokes.

She whimpered, unable to answer at first. Then the base of his thumb brushed a perfect spot and she begged, “Right like that.”

“Okay,” he said, repeating the motion and sending shocks up Andromeda’s spine. Andromeda had always been afraid of doing this alone. Every time she was tempted, she'd stopped herself. She was afraid of what desire she might unlock if she explored her own sexuality in this way. Somehow with Ted the danger felt worthwhile. She wanted him to keep going.

“Oh, wow,” she gasped, rocking her hips with his motions, tipping her pelvis forward so that he hit the right spot nearly every time. The heat and electricity built within her, and she felt like a wind-up toy about to go off. She was building towards something she’d never experienced before as Ted sucked on her earlobe and pumped his hand faster. It came suddenly, like a tiny burst in the dam, and she grabbed his shirt as her body shook, a small cry erupting from her throat. She pressed her mouth against his shoulder to muffle the noise.

When it was over she was out of breath. Her legs felt weak. Ted withdrew his hand and wiped it on his trousers. Andromeda leaned her head against him as she caught her breath. There was lipstick all over his shirt. He looked down at it and laughed. “Woops,” he said. “I’ll have to bury that in the laundry pile.”

Andromeda felt drunk with pleasure. She wanted to stay rested against him, close to his warm body and that intoxicating scent. She felt transformed by the knowledge of what was possible. But she wanted him to feel good too. “What should I do?” she asked, using her leg to hook around his hips and pull him closer. Her hands found the waistband of his trousers and the bulge straining to escape the front. She danced her fingers over him, and he moaned. “What do you feel comfortable doing?” he asked.

“It’s this way,” a voice said somewhere beyond the door. Andromeda’s eyes were open and her heart was in her throat. She shoved Ted away in the dark and grabbed her wand from the table beside her, whispering a command to relock the door. Then she started gathering up her bra and blouse and frantically buttoning. Ted snuffed out the light on his wand.

Someone jiggled the doorknob and Andromeda froze. Ted’s hand found her arm in the dark. There were at least two people outside.

“You heard it though, right?” one said. Andromeda thought she recognized a prefect’s voice.

“I dunno. It might have been Peeves.”

“Should we wake Slughorn to unlock this door?”

“You want to wake him?” Footsteps moved away from the door. Andromeda pressed her ear against it to listen as the voices trailed off. After a minute of quiet, Ted lit his wand. Andromeda covered her mouth, snickering at the smears of red across his chin and neck.

“Something funny?” he asked, amused.

“I’m glad you’re so fond of my lipstick. You’re really wearing quite a lot of it.”

Ted tried to wipe it with his sleeve. Andromeda shook her head and stepped closer. “Just keep the light steady,” she said as she performed a few of her favorite cleaning charms on his shirt.

“Ouch,” he winced as a particular scrubbing charm rubbed his skin the wrong way.

“There,” she said, smoothing his shirt under her hands. “Like new.”

Ted pushed her hair away from her face. Andromeda fiddled with a button on his shirt. The moment was gone, and it was too much of a risk to stay here much longer, but neither of them wanted to go.

“I’ll see you in class then,” Andromeda finally said.

“Yeah,” Ted said, reluctantly. “Good night.” He dipped his head down and pressed a sweet, gentle kiss to her lips. Then he stepped back and unlocked the door behind him. Andromeda waited for him to go. When he had made it down the hall without any sign of being stopped, Andromeda slipped out of the closet. Her thighs were wet and she was sure her makeup was a mess, but luckily the common room was mostly dark when she came back, and the handful of students still up were too distracted to notice her state of disarray.

Andromeda crossed the common room quickly and slipped up the stairs to the seventh year dorm. She grabbed her pajamas and ducked into the bathroom to wash up.


	10. The Unsuitable Suitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda's father tries to play matchmaker.

**Chapter Ten:**  
**The Unsuitable Suitor**

Ted went to the library on Monday around lunch time. He had slept in and had an early lunch, but now he needed to get some work done. His schedule was free on Mondays, so it took a lot of self-discipline to stop fantasizing about Andromeda pushing him up against a wall and actually focus on work.

Andromeda had apparently been thinking about him too-- looking for him. She found him in the back of the library as he took notes on his history reading in a spiral-bound notebook. “What’s that?” she asked, sitting beside him. He’d chosen a secluded study area, so they weren’t really in danger of being spotted from afar. Besides, they were Herbology partners. If any Slytherins came by he could immediately start discussing bobotuber spores.

“Notebook,” he said. Ted got weird looks for his muggle school supplies, but they were still worth using. Wizards needed help when it came to stationary, even if they did have magic ink and quills that took dictation. Ted had been asked more questions about his notebooks than he could count. “Much smarter than carrying around scrolls or loose parchment.”

“So it’s like a blank book? Why don’t they just bind it?” Wizards had journals. But a properly bound journal was costly and had smaller pages. She had answered her own question. “This is cheap, right?” Not that someone like Andromeda ever worried about money.

“Yeah. Some of us aren’t heiresses. Still gotta use quills though. Required format,” he groaned.

“What else would you use?”

“Use a pen,” he said.

He started to explain a pen, but she wasn’t really listening anymore. Ted could tell. Her eyes were wandering over him and she was tugging her bottom lip between her teeth. _She wants to finish what we started last night,_ he thought.

“Earth to Andromeda,” he said. Her eyes seemed to focus, settling on his. She rested her hand on his knee, the great big table hiding her actions from anyone walking by. Ted raised an eyebrow. “How’s it going?”

She followed the line of his leg to his groin. He was growing hard beneath his robes, and he shifted in his seat. “‘Dromeda,” he said in a quiet groan.

“Act normal,” she said, pretending to look at his textbook while her hands gripped his length beneath the fabric. Ted’s knuckles were white on the edge of the table, and he struggled to keep his eyes open.

“Are you insane?” he whispered. “You’re going to make a mess.”

“That’s what cleanup charms are for,” she said, continuing to stroke him.

Ted grunted, and his chair scooted a bit as he fought with a collection of impulses: to groan, to rock his hips, to close his eyes. With her free hand she pointed at a photo in his book and asked, “Who’s that?” As if nothing out of the ordinary was happening down below.

“Er— that’s…” his eyelids fluttered and he buried his mouth in his hand, groaning into his palm. His robes suddenly felt slick and a bit sticky. Ted cursed.

That hadn’t taken long at all.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted. “That’s usually… slower.”

“Usually?” she asked, looking around to make sure nobody was watching or listening.

“When I do it… myself.” And now enough blood was freeing up to fill his cheeks with blush. “I’ve just never had… help. It was…”

Andromeda stood up and started from the table. “I’ve got homework to do.”

“What?” he asked, looking panicked. “But I need… I mean,” he looked down at his lap and then back up at her, pleading with his eyes.

Andromeda laughed. “I’m kidding,” she said, and she checked their surroundings one more time before crossing to carefully aim a cleaning spell at his lap. He managed not to yelp this time. Before stepping away, she whispered in his ear, “Besides, I need you to follow me to the free classroom just past the stairs to the astronomy tower to do that thing you did again.”

“I’m gonna need a minute,” Ted said, looking down again. His erection was going to take a minute to deflate. "But yes, I definitely want to do that." He just had to stop thinking about exactly what _that_ was for a moment. He didn't need to be strolling down the hall with a boner.

"See you there," she said, and she spun around, her hair swishing behind her. Ted pressed his teeth into the side of his hand and started running through herbology facts in his head. When he'd calmed down enough to leave the table, he dutifully followed her to their rendezvous.

~❀~

They met up two to three times a week in various secret passages and empty classrooms. Sometimes they would exchange favors before bed, sometimes they would grind against each other until clothes needed to be cleaned, and sometimes they just kissed and talked (usually when Andromeda was on her period). It was amazing to Andromeda how her lust, once activated, came in waves. She would be unbelievably horny until the moment Ted set her off, and after they had redressed and parted ways, she felt calm and satisfied. But the next day he would be on her mind again and it would be hard to focus. Just thinking about the next time they could touch each other would cause her to wonder if anyone else could sense how turned-on she was.

It made classes they had together almost unbearable. How could they stay polite and productive in Herbology and pretend like they merely tolerated each other when it was all Andromeda could do not to grab his backside as he walked off to find a set of gardening sheers. It was difficult to keep her eyes off him whenever he was in the room, and from time to time in the hallways Pyxis had to mumble “Staring” and elbow Andromeda to get her to stop undressing him with her eyes as he passed by with his group of friends.

This lasted until April and then changed quite suddenly when a black owl swooped over the Slytherin table and dropped a letter on the table. It was a note from her father informing her that she was to come home for the Easter weekend via apparating from Hogsmeade and that a suitor was to be at dinner Saturday night. Andromeda left the table without finishing her breakfast and grabbed Pyxis by the arm. “Emergency,” she said, pulling the Ravenclaw from her meal.

Pyxis and Andromeda marched out across the lawn until they were almost at the forbidden forest. Pyxis still had a pear in hand. She had been eating nothing but fruits and vegetables (mostly fruits) for a week in an effort to lose a few pounds before her brother’s wedding this weekend. Andromeda didn’t have the heart to tell her that she’d been eating mostly sugar.

“Daddy found another one,” Andromeda said, handing the letter to Pyxis.

“Shit, your father has pretty handwriting.” She chewed her pear and read the letter with a frown. “Nice and obtuse,” she said, and then quoted the letter, “‘I have been in talks for some weeks with another of the sacred twenty-eight and I have found a young man you must meet.’ Who do you think it is?”

Andromeda had no clue. To her father, who was over sixty (despite the error on her aunt’s family tree tapestry that said he was born in 1938 instead of 1908—the artisan had been cursed when the error was discovered), “young man” could have meant anyone under forty. “His idea of young doesn’t narrow it down much, huh?”

Pyxis crinkled her nose. “Ew, you don’t think he’d set you up with someone old, do you?”

They shuddered simultaneously. Andromeda’s mother was ten years her father’s junior. It was entirely possible the guy he’d chosen could be much older than eighteen.

“This is bad… listen, I’ll owl when I know more Saturday night.”

“Hmm, in the meantime I’ll be dancing it up with Cosmo’s cute groomsmen.”

“Thanks,” Andromeda scowled. Andromeda would have much rather gone to her brother's wedding than whatever nightmare her father was planning.

~❀~

Andromeda seemed off in class. She wasn't casting her usual glances at Ted. She seemed far away in thought.

In charms class, Ted slipped Andromeda a note with nothing but a question mark on it. She scribbled something back and then cast a password charm on it, one they had learned in February that could be used to encrypt messages. When she went up to ask Professor Flitwick a question, she dropped it on his desk.

Ted whispered their previously agreed-upon password, "Red Lipstick," and the jumble of letters on the page unscrambled themselves.

> I can’t possibly emphasize how badly I want to drag you to the floor and snog you senseless right now, but my parents are at it again trying to arrange a marriage, and I know how you feel about being the other man. Pyxis and I are going to plot how to shake this bloke, but for now I’m twenty-four hours away from being trapped again.
> 
> We’ll talk Monday.

_Shit,_ he thought. He had known their fooling around was temporary, but he felt an ache in his chest. Whoever the guy was, he couldn't possibly be worse than Rabastan, right? Who was he? Ted hated him already.

He tried not to look at her as they left class. He didn't want to see her face. He had seen how much her engagement to Rabastan had upset her. Her liberation had flipped a switch. He didn't want to see her look weighed down like that again. It would hurt too much.

“This is a fling,” he said as he made it back to his dorm before dinner. “A fling,” he reminded himself. If she couldn’t get out of this match, this was it. Would it be better if he never saw it coming? Would they have a chance to say goodbye?

~❀~

When Andromeda and Narcissa apparated in on the Saturday morning before Easter, Cygnus and Druella Black were waiting for them. And Bellatrix was there. Bellatrix had the same strong cheekbones and chin and the same hollow cheeks as Andromeda, but where Andromeda’s eyes were fair and her hair was light brown-- almost blond-- Bellatrix had dark eyes and nearly black hair. The severe older sister swept Andromeda off to prepare, and Narcissa bounded along after them, helping with the tweezing of eyebrows and the selection of her best dress robes. Andromeda had hoped to make a mediocre impression on her new suitor, but her sisters would not allow it.

Around lunch time, when Andromeda managed to break free from Bellatrix and her coaching on recent social movements in the pureblooded world, she found her father in his office examining a sinister-looking book and smoking a pipe.

The room was furnished with antiques: hand-carved wood and polished precious metals were complemented by velvet and embroidered silk upholstery. A large desk sat center, spread with old documents, a magnifying glass, and a silver inkwell decorated with howling faces that moved when the quill was dipped back in the ink. Cygnus Black III was a distinguished looking older man with salt and pepper hair and the same light eyes as his middle daughter. He glanced up at Andromeda and smiled. “Your mother tells me you’re keeping top marks in all your classes again. Ready for N.E.W.T.s?”

“Absolutely not,” she said, sitting down in a nearby chair and looking at the book. “What’s this?”

“A friend of mine found it in a muggle second-hand shop. It was in an old trunk in some attic and ended up pawned off by some ungrateful heir. He’s fairly certain it’s of wizarding origin. Likely cursed. Probably something the muggle stole or was intentionally gifted.”

“Intentionally gifted a cursed book? So he pissed someone off?”

Cygnus laughed. “Yes. That would be my assumption. There is something about it. If you touch it--I wouldn’t open it--you’ll see.”

Andromeda cautiously placed a finger on the book’s cover. She felt ill, not like she had a flu but like she was overcome with anxiety. She hadn’t felt this twisting in her stomach since O.W.L. Exams. She pulled her hand back immediately. “Definitely cursed.” Cursed artifacts were Cygnus Black’s favorite thing. He loved diagnosing how they worked.

“Daddy,” she said, letting her voice rise a little to remind him that she was his little girl. “Who is coming to dinner?”

Cygnus took a puff of his pipe. “Don’t worry. He’s much more respectable than Rabastan Lestrange. And I’m sorry about that. Not every member of the family can be a winner every generation.”

Andromeda snorted. “That’s an understatement,” but really she thought Rodolphus was cut from the same cloth. “Who is he?”

Cygnus looked up from his wicked book and smiled. “Now then, I don’t tell you what’s in your Christmas presents before you open them.”

It was almost sweet that he thought this arranged marriage was a gift to her. Almost. Andromeda sighed. “You know you were two times my age when you married mother,” she said. He was always Daddy, but Druella hadn’t been Mommy since she was six. “I know you think I’m lagging behind because Bella is already married and Narcissa just got engaged, but I don’t have to beat my baby sister to it.”

“Hmm,” he said, and for a moment she had hope. “I don’t want you to miss out, dear. Bellatrix is very aggressive in pursuit of what she wants and Narcissa knows how to charm men. You’ve always been so much more… serious and reserved. I don’t want you to look up in ten years and find every suitable husband married off to eighteen-year-olds and have nobody left but Credence Crabbe.”

Andromeda pretended to gag and Cygnus laughed. There were some pureblooded families that were a bit off from all of the intermarrying (which Andromeda thought was an excellent reason to bring in muggle blood, but she would never tell her father that) and then there were a few that were just… stupid. Credence Crabbe was also already fifty. He was constantly making inappropriate passes at younger women at pureblooded social functions— and he smelled strange.

“This one is from an excellent family, and he’s quite handsome,” Cygnus said. “And he remembers you from Hogwarts. He seems quite eager to have dinner with us tonight.”

Cygnus prodded the book with his wand and red sparks shot out. “Oh-ho! I think I have it.” He laughed. “Whoever gave this one to that muggle was sure clever.”

“What?” She asked.

“Nightmare hex. Not sure which one yet, but I’m willing to bet a hundred galleons this is a journal when you open it.”

“And I touched it?”

“Hmm, yes, well, if it’s a journal I would think writing in it would really set it off but maybe take some dreamless sleep tonight. Your mother has some from the last time she was ill in her boudoir.”

Andromeda left her father with his cursed toy and went to get lunch. By the time she was done eating, Narcissa had found her with a big kit of makeup in hand.

“Cissy!” Bellatrix called. “Where is that black necklace I loaned you?”

Narcissa grabbed Andromeda by the wrist and dragged her up the stairs for a few more hours of dress up.

~❀~

Ted had been out drinking with his primary school mates and had lost a drinking game. He hadn't just lost; he'd been slaughtered. And now he was completely plastered, falling over himself as his friends dropped him off at his parents' house. It was their first night where everyone was home and everyone was old enough to drink spirits.

Ted's mother, sighing and muttering to herself as she accepted this right of passage from her eighteen-year-old son, brought him water and a bisthmus tablet and placed a bucket next to the bed in case he needed it.

Ted was hardly aware of what she was saying as she turned out the light. He wanted his wand. He had left it in his night stand when he'd left the house this evening. He tried to find the handle on the drawer, but it was dark and he shouted "Lumos" uselessly at the furniture for a minute before giving up. He was so tired, but he wanted to send a message to Andromeda to tell her not to marry Roger Daltrey (because he had at some point over the course of the night become convinced that she was going to marry the singer from The Who.)

But he was tired. He was so tired. He closed his eyes and settled in. He was going to wake up with a pounding headache on Easter morning.

~❀~

The final result was a bit much, Andromeda thought. Bellatrix had found what she was looking for: a collar of oxidized silver with obsidian and emeralds and one large obsidian teardrop at the middle. She had combined that with a low-cut pair of emerald silk dress robes. Narcissa had done Andromeda’s hair and makeup with thick eyeliner and an almost burgundy lipstick. They’d added just enough blush to stop the color from washing her out.

“Certainly an evening look,” she said, looking at herself in the mirror. “Don’t I look a bit… dark?”

“Own it,” Bellatrix said. “Narcissa would look like a vampire in it. You look in control.”

There was a mild crack outside and Bellatrix looked out the window. “Oh good,” she said, “Rodolphus is on time for once. Threats do work.”

Narcissa and Andromeda shared somewhat horrified looks. They both knew who was the boss in that marriage.

“What did you threaten?” Narcissa asked, hesitantly.

“Beheading?” Andromeda suggested with a smirk. Once at Hogwarts another Slytherin had made a rather forward pass at Bellatrix and she had vanished his testicles. Word was it had taken Pomfrey a few days to find a way to grow them back.

“Once a man gets used to not having to take care of himself, you have all the power,” Bellatrix said.

“You mean you threatened not to sleep with him?” Narcissa asked in a tone that was a bit too curious. Andromeda hoped she wasn’t taking marriage advice from Bella of all people.

“Oh no dear, I’m not punishing myself. I just take away certain favors.” She swept out the door, leaving the younger sisters alone in Andromeda’s room. Andromeda looked in the mirror one last time before following Narcissa down the stairs to wait in the parlor.

Their guests arrived at exactly seven: Juno and Deimos Slughorn and their son, Hector. Hector was Bella’s age, a Slytherin, and Cygnus was right: he was handsome. He had a broad jaw and cleft chin, and his brown hair seemed to defy the laws of nature. Andromeda wondered what product he used. She remembered that he had been captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team as a seventh year, and she also remembered whispers about him possibly being a bugger. Well, Andromeda thought, if she managed to get trapped in a loveless marriage, it would be helpful to be trapped with someone who didn’t want to fuck her all the time.

“Juno,” Druella said, sweeping in the room and kissing the other woman on the cheek.

“Andromeda, you remember Hector?” Cygnus asked, watching Andromeda as if looking for approval.

“I do,” she said, nodding to Hector. “You’re Professor Slughorn’s nephew?”

“Great Nephew,” Deimos said. “He’s my uncle. Interesting man. Bit of a collector,” he said.

“Oh?” Andromeda had no idea what he meant.

“He hasn’t tapped you for that absurd club?” Deimos asked.

“Probably didn’t think she’d say yes,” Bella said, looping her arm through Rodolphus’s elbow once all the hand shakes were done. “He does let muggleborns in, after all.”

Andromeda had heard whispering of a club, but she hadn’t been nosy enough to learn more.

“Andromeda’s much too busy with her duties as head girl,” Juno bragged.

Hector looked bored.

“Come, this way. Cygnus has just returned from visiting an investment property in Italy, and he brought back quite a lot of prosecco.”

They sat down to chat over wine. Andromeda and Hector had very little in common. He wasn’t very bright, and she wasn’t very interested in sports. And then there was the way he looked at Rodolphus. No, this was not going to work.

When the Slughorns had left, Cygnus turned and wrapped his arm around Andromeda. “What do you think?” he asked.

It was a risk to get rid of Hector when her father could find someone as bad as Rabastan, but she decided it was worth the risk to drag things out for as long as she could. “I think he’s… more interested in Rodolphus than me.”

Cygnus’s smile vanished. “Pardon?”

“Daddy, there were rumors at Hogwarts, and he confirmed it for me by looking at my sister’s husband more than me all night.”

Cygnus scowled. Being gay was a problem for the purist of pureblooded families. Gay men didn’t produce heirs, and bloodlines were all that mattered. Men who cheated (even with other men) were far more acceptable than men who wouldn't sleep with their wives at all. It was why Cygnus was so keen to marry Andromeda off right away, so he could ensure a flourishing Black line.

“Bella,” Cygnus called his oldest daughter over. Rodolphus went up to Bella’s old bedroom without her.

She turned back to rejoin her father. “Yes, Daddy?”

“Your sister is under the impression that Mr. Slughorn spent an improper amount of time looking at Rodolphus.”

Bellatrix smiled. “The father or the son?”

“Hector,” Cygnus said, his mood incredibly sour. “Do you think this is funny?”

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Bellatrix said. “Andromeda is right. Boy’s a bugger.”

Cygnus cursed and then apologized to his daughters for cursing in front of them. “Well, back to the drawing board,” he said.

“I’m withering away here from my advanced years,” Andromeda said, but she stopped smiling because her father did not seem in the mood for jokes.

“I’m going to my study. I’ll see you girls in the morning.”

~❀~

Ted had a free schedule Mondays, but Andromeda had alchemy. He tried to keep himself busy all morning while she was in class, working on homework and watching the squid down at the lake. She didn't appear in the Great Hall at lunch, but Pyxis was there, and she passed a message that Andromeda was working on a group project in the library. Ted walked out into the entrance hall, planning to go wait outside the library. Andromeda was just finishing up and entered the public space at the same time.

“Hey, what happened Saturday?” he asked, rushing over to her. She looked around. He was being indiscreet, standing so close and talking so openly in the entrance hall, but he didn't care right now.

“Oh,” she said, coming up with a quick cover. “I forgot I was going home for Easter. Did you care for the mandrakes without me?” She was very good at lying.

She gave him a warning, wide-eyed look. Andromeda looked in her backpack and said, “Here’s the formula for that fertilizer.” She took out a self-inking quill and a piece of parchment before writing down a fifth floor location and the phrase “lemon zest.” She handed it to Ted, who was confused by the note, and quickly walked away. What was this place with a password? Had she set it up?

Ted waited a few minutes before heading out, following the directions on the paper and giving the password. He stepped into a large bathroom and looked around in awe, taking in the enormous bath and the rows of stalls. “Why do they have stalls for privacy and then anyone can walk up to the tub?” he asked.

Andromeda, who was waiting inside, sat at the edge of the tub and started to turn taps. The edge of the bath was lined with at least a dozen of them. Bubbles and scented water poured from different faucets. She shrugged.

“What happened Saturday?” he asked.

“You need to be more careful about talking to me in public.”

Ted scowled. He’d always known the deal, but the weekend of suspense had made him grumpy and impatient.

“What happened Saturday?” he repeated.

“Daddy tried to set me up with Slughorn’s great nephew. Do you remember Hector Slughorn?”

“Can’t say I do,” Ted said.

“Bet he probably remembers you,” she said with a smile. “You’re quite a catch and you’re more his type than I am.”

Ted laughed. “What?”

“Crisis averted,” she said. “So I’m all yours until June.”

“All mine?” he asked. Ted left his spot standing by the door and came to sit next to Andromeda. There was a fluffy sky blue bath rug leading up to the edge of the bath and a little ledge that they sat on. The bath proper was sunk into the floor like a small swimming pool and it was filling up fast.

“Within reason,” she said, reaching up and undoing the top button of his robes. His black school robes buttoned half way and pulled over his head. Ted slid his hands along her sides as she undid the last three buttons. He had to get up a little to get the long robe out from under him so he could pull it off. Ted wore trousers and an undershirt with his robes, and she eagerly pulled at the white v-neck.

When his shirt was off, he grabbed the edges of her robe. She had to stand for him to get it off, revealing a black satin slip underneath. He sucked in air sharply through his teeth, resulting in a hissing sound. “Have I ever told you how sexy these look,” he said before tugging this, too, up over her head. She raised her arms for him to strip the garment away, leaving her in her bra and pants. Ted knelt on the fluffy bath rug and gave a gentle tug on her hand. She knelt with him. He reached behind her back and unclasped her bra— something he was beginning to excel at— and tossed it aside.

Andromeda played with the hair on his temples, watching his face as he surveyed her body. He held her breasts in the palms of his hands and massaged the nipples with his thumbs until they were firm and stood at attention. He kissed her neck, her throat, her collarbone, and then her breast. Andromeda closed her eyes to take it each gentle touch. When he drew her nipple into his mouth, gently holding it between his teeth while his tongue flicked the end, she moaned. He loved that he could make her respond in this way.

He took his time, giving each of her breasts equal attention, and then let the trail of soft kisses travel back up her neck. She hooked her arms under his and braced her hands on his back, pulling her body against him. Her skin was hot to touch, and her breasts were soft. The heat of her body radiated through him, flooding him with desire.

Ted looped an arm around her middle and dipped her back until she lay on the rug. His weight pressed down on her and she wrapped her legs around his hips, grinding against him through both their underwear. An involuntary groan escaped Ted as he pressed his pelvis into her hip. They both wanted more than this, but she had an extraordinary amount of self discipline and set boundaries: one of them was to be wearing pants at all times.

Ted sat up and looked down at Andromeda with a lazy smile. She asked, “What? What are you up to?”

Ted grabbed the sides of her underpants and slid them down over her hips. Now that he had her laid out beneath him, he felt like trying something new. Usually when they did this sort of thing they were standing and it a dark corner. This was the first time she had been laid out for him like this in the light. Ted touched her left knee with his right thumb and forefinger and gently pushed it to the side, spreading her legs. He lowered himself down to kiss her knee. Her muscles jumped. It must have tickled. Then he kissed the inside of her thigh. His mouth worked it’s way up the inside of her leg until he was kissing the tangle of hair protecting her vulva. He slid his finger just inside her and stroked upward, parting the dark hair.

Andromeda propped herself up on her elbows to watch. He lowered his head again and darted his tongue out to taste her. Andromeda’s stomach tensed with surprise at the new sensation. Ted licked her again, this time pressing his tongue more firmly against her. She closed her eyes and settled on her back. She curled her fingers into the rug as he continued to lap at her clitoris. She tasted tangy and sweet. He ran his hands over her thighs and pelvis as he worked.

Andromeda gasped, trying and failing to control her volume as they were used to meeting up in empty classrooms and hidden passages. Her hips began to squirm and he gripped her legs, holding her down in place while he sped up. With another minute she moaned and raised her hips off the rug as her muscles tightened around his fingers.

When she was done, he slowed and stopped. Ted rose from his position on his stomach and wiped his mouth. Andromeda opened her eyes looking almost drunk. Her chest rose and fell heavily as she tried to catch her breath. “Where...” she gasped. “Where did you get that idea?”

Ted moved to lay next to her on his side, running his hands over her stomach and breasts. “This weekend I spent Saturday out with some of my muggle mates from the neighborhood. One of my friends gave me some advice. Good advice?” It was one of the few things he remembered from his night of drinking.

“So good,” she said, closing her thighs. “I need a bath.”

Ted looked back over his shoulder and sat up. He crawled over to the full tub and turned off the tap. It had been done filling two minutes ago but a charm kept it from overflowing. Ted looked back at Andromeda, testing the water with his hand. “It’s ready if you are.”

She rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself to her feet before grabbing her undergarments off of the floor. She slipped the pants on and then joined Ted at the water’s edge. She slid into the bath before him. Ted stepped out of his trousers and followed suit, using his briefs as a swimming costume. Always at least one of them wearing pants— that was the rule.

“Your friend gave you that idea?” she asked.

Ted swam over to Andromeda and stood with his feet on the floor, his chin just above water. “It’s called cunnilingus. It’s more common than you think.”

He couldn't picture Andromeda having ready access to pornography, and he wondered if girls ever talked in detail about sex. He knew from their chats that she hadn't ever done more than kiss a few boys-- even Rabastan. He was going to have to educate her on a lot of things-- all of which he only really knew in theory.

“So how can I return the favor?” she asked, having some ideas but not wanting to be wrong. She had to stand closer to the steps to stay above the water.

“Well the idea is to... take it into your mouth,” Ted said, looking down at the water. Explicitly instructing her on this matter was going to be awkward. They'd done a lot, but this felt more intimate and Ted was worried she'd be put off or worse: offended.

“Okay,” she said, hesitant but curious.

“And you basically try to lick and suck on it until, well you can spit or not or you can stop right before the end and use your hand.”

“Okay,” she said. “You have to warn me.”

“Yeah?” Ted was pleasantly surprised by her willingness to try.

“Yeah,” she said, swimming back to the stairs and motioning for him to sit at the top. Ted obeyed and sat on the top step, his butt in the water but the front of his pelvis above it. The wet white underwear and his straining erection stretching the fabric left little mystery.

Ted helped Andromeda take off his underwear. They set it on the edge of the bath.

Andromeda perched on the steps just below him on her hands and knees, her breasts barely touching the water. She moved her left hand to his hip, bracing herself, and carefully picked him up in her right hand. She gripped his length and made a few strokes, watching the little bead of clear precum form at the tip, and then she licked the head. It was just a flick at first but it was far beyond anything they'd done before. Her mouth was soft and hot and wet. Years of self-pleasure in the shower had not prepared him for this. She swirled the flat of her tongue around the tip, and he moaned her name, “‘Dromeda.”

Andromeda gripped the base of his penis and slid her hand slowly along the shaft, and she took the head into her mouth again. She managed to slide her lips a few inches down before coming back up. She repeated the motion as he moaned, keeping her hand and her mouth in rhythm and squeezing gently. As his pleasure built and his moans grew louder, she gradually sped up, taking her mouth away from time to time to catch her breath. Even in these moments she kept her hand moving. Ted buried his fingers in her hair as she worked and gathered it on top of her head, away from her face so he could witness everything. She was beautiful.

Suddenly the intensity of sensation spiked and Ted realized he was approaching his limit faster than expected. He gasped, “Andromeda, I’m…” and she pulled her lips away moments before semen spurted from the tip, landing on his thigh, his stomach, and her wrist.

She slowed to a stop, milking the last of the fluid, and then dipped her hand in the hot bath water. Ted slid into the water with her to cool off, taking his time getting in because he was still extremely sensitive.

“Jesus, ‘Dromeda,” he said, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her deeply. She relaxed, letting him hold her above the water, and lazily tangled her tongue with his. All he wanted was to stretch this time out for eternity and never leave here.

Andromeda's shoulders tensed and her expression grew serious. She hadn't seemed to hesitate about anything they had just done, but now she was distant. She was pulling away, both literally and emotionally. She sat up and climbed out of the water.

~❀~

“What is it?” Ted asked. So he had noticed.

“Exams are over in six weeks,” Andromeda said. In fact, she had received her first N.E.W.T. study guide this morning in Arithmancy. In six weeks she would graduate and return home to her parents until they transferred her to another family. What if she got a flat in London while she waited for that day? Would they accept it?

“Hmm, yes. It’ll be nice to be done with homework forever,” he said, clearly not getting it.

Andromeda swam to the steps. She climbed out and grabbed one of the enormous bath sheets to wrap herself in. Ted followed, confused.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“No,” she said with a bitter smile. “You did everything right. I’m the one who doesn’t want to graduate.”

“Bombing your exams is always an option,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Don’t tempt me,” she said.

Andromeda waved her wand and the bath began to drain. She dropped the towel on the floor and began to pick up the pieces of her clothing. Another quick charm dried her pants. Ted recovered his from the edge of the bath and followed with the same spell.

They dressed quietly, Ted pausing a few times as if he wanted to say something and then thinking better of it. When they finished reassembling themselves, Andromeda checked the mirror over the sink and vanished what remained of her makeup. She felt a bit self-conscious when she turned back to Ted, but her kit was in her trunk and she had no way to replace it. Ted didn’t seem to mind.

“What happens if another prefect decides to come in here?” Ted asked.

“I’ve never had that happen. It’s not exactly a place we come just to pee. There are twenty-four prefects, so I guess it happens sometimes but I imagine the statue wouldn’t let you in while it’s occupied.”

“So what happens if we step out of here together and someone is waiting?” he asked.

Andromeda frowned. “Maybe I go a minute ahead and if someone is standing there I’ll pretend I forgot something and come back?”

“And then wait in here until we die?”

Andromeda laughed. “Not a terrible plan. I suppose you could use a memory charm.”

He frowned. “Feels kind of wrong,” he said.

“Then I suppose we’ll think on our feet. Odds are slim while afternoon classes are still in session.”

Andromeda slipped out ahead of Ted, and when she found an empty hall, she signaled for him to come out. Ted and Andromeda walked side-by-side down the corridor until they heard voices around the corner. She quickly turned and stretched on her toes to place a peck on his lips before turning and going down another hall, leaving him alone.

Her chest ached. She wanted to cry, and a lump forming in her throat threatened her composure. Six weeks. That was all they had together before everything had to end. She stopped next to a portrait of a lady waiting by a dock and took a few deep breaths.

“Man troubles, my dear?” the lady said, turning from her spot staring out at the ocean to look at Andromeda.

Andromeda thought maybe she had fought back the tears, and she nodded.

“They always leave,” the lady said, looking back at the water.

“It’s not that,” Andromeda said. “I have to leave. We both do.”

It had been a mistake to find Ted and start back up. This weekend could have been the perfect excuse to end things, but now she was deeper in, more addicted to his touch, more aware of how badly ending this would hurt. Was it a mistake to begin in the first place?

“I don’t ever leave,” the lady in the painting replied. “It would be disloyal. I never leave.”

“Well aren’t you a perfect fucking Hufflepuff,” Andromeda snapped, and she rushed away from the portrait to be alone and cry.


	11. The Commencement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Graduation forces a decision.

**Chapter Eleven:**   
**The Commencement**

Every class now was focused on N.E.W.T. test preparation. Ted was exhausted and ready to just get exams over with. He didn't care if he was prepared any more. He just wanted to not be stuck in the library, eyes burning, mouth dry, thumbing through notes and textbooks.

Ted came back to his dorm after one such class where he was given a five-hundred question study guide to find Steven digging through a pile of laundry on the dorm floor. The guys were messy, especially this close to testing, and they had let their hamper overflow instead of sending it to washing. "What are you doing?" Ted asked.

"I was looking for a shirt," he said. "I left a note in the pocket."

Steven picked up another shirt and stopped in his tracks. Ted looked down and saw red. Andromeda's red lipstick. The shirt had Ted's initials in the collar.

"Hey mate," Steven said, sounding way too friendly all of a sudden. "Whose lipstick is on your shirt?"

Ted walked to the door and closed it. "Yeaaaahh," he said, taking the shirt from Steven's hand. "I've got something I probably should have told you months ago."

"Months?" Steven asked.

"Months," Ted said. "But it's, well... okay so..."

"Are you shagging someone?" he asked.

"No!" Ted felt his face getting hot. "Well... not quite. Almost. Everything but."

Steven laughed. He clapped Ted on the back and threw an arm around his shoulder. "Teddy boy, who are you almost shagging?"

Ted made a shushing noise, worried that someone outside the door would hear them. He wasn't even sure if it was safe to tell Amos. Amos who was almost a Gryffindor in his hot-headed defense of what was right and just. Amos whose hatred of the purebloods in Slytherin was driven partly by the way they had tormented Ted in the past.

"So you can't tell anyone," Ted started. "You have to promise." Hufflepuffs took promises very seriously. It wasn't just their integrity. Hufflepuffs got a lot of crap from everyone else in the school. They had a lot of pride in their virtues. Hufflepuffs didn't tolerate laziness and disloyalty among their housemates.

"Is it... is it a teacher?" Steven asked.

"What?! No!" Ted shouted. "What teacher?"

Steven shrugged. "Arithmancy professor is kind of a babe."

"No, it's... it's Andromeda Black," Ted said, whispering.

"No shit!"

"Yeah. Since November. She never wanted to marry Rabastan. It was an arranged marriage, and as soon as she got out of that engagement we started snogging. But it's almost over."

"Almost..." Steven frowned and sat on the edge of his bed. Whatever he was looking for, he'd forgotten it. "How is a relationship almost over? Are you dumping her?"

Ted sat on his own bed, his hands braced behind him. He wished he had told Steven before. He needed to talk to someone about this, and the only other person who knew, Pyxis, was Andromeda's friend. Nobody else _could _know. "No. But she can't see me when we're out of here for... obvious reasons."

"Obvious as in her sisters are heinous bitches and her parents are living in the Dark Ages?" Steven asked.

Ted snapped his fingers and made finger guns.

Steven rubbed his jaw. "She's... hot in a quiet, repressed kind of way."

"She's hot in an Andromeda kind of way," Ted said. He didn't think she had a type. She was her own, unique, beautiful person. She was strong, but she let love for her father tie her down. She was ambitious, but tethered to obligation. She was sexy, but she rarely let her herself cut loose. Ted had seen a freer side of her, the rebel buried deep inside, and he... loved her. "I don't want it to end," he admitted.

"What's the end game?" Steven asked.

Ted shrugged.

Steven looked around the room. He stood up and paced for a minute. "Well fuck, sorry, mate."

Ted nodded.

"I... I've got to meet a study group. Do you want to... do you want to talk later?"

Ted nodded again. "Yeah. We'll meet up. You go get your geek on."

Steven left the dorm and Ted made sure to bury the incriminating shirt in the laundry pile. He knew it was better that Steven had been the one to catch him than Amos.

~❀~

Andromeda had little time for dangerous liaisons over the last six weeks of school. She was always studying or sleeping. Snogging sessions with Ted were frantic and far-between. Once when they had found a good private classroom after curfew, they had shared a joint (something he had purchased on Easter weekend) and fallen asleep instead of doing anything illicit. That morning it had been awkward to explain her absence to her room mates. She claimed to have fallen asleep at the back of the library and gone unnoticed, but she thought one of the girls suspected her.

There was a reason the tests were called “Nastily Exhausting.” Andromeda had three of her five exams the first week: Alchemy on Monday (theory in the morning and practical in the afternoon), Herbology on Wednesday, and Potions on Friday. The week following she took Defense Against the Dark Arts on Tuesday and Charms on Friday.

And then it was over.

The last few days of the school year were usually spent by younger students tracking down lost books, packing their trunks, and sitting for makeup exams. The seventh years had commencement to consider, even though exact exam scores wouldn’t come by owl for another week.

Andromeda’s parents, Bellatrix, and Rodolphus apparated into Hogsmeade, but she wouldn’t see them until after the ceremony. There was a special stole for the Head Girl and Head Boy, and each student wore a hat band to indicate their house on their pointed black caps. The ceremony was on the pitch with parents filling the stadium in the appropriate house sections. The graduates marched onto the field. Andromeda saw Ted looking for her in the crowd as they lined up, but she decided it would be best to rip the bandage off at once, so she avoided him.

Her stomach ached through the whole ceremony. She did not want to be here. She wanted to rewind time and start the year over again at day one. She just needed more time, but life moved on. The best year of her life had ended, as all things did.

After graduation she went to Hogsmeade for dinner with her parents, and then it was tradition to ride the train for the last time the next day. Andromeda was sure to sit with Narcissa’s friends to keep Ted away. Narcissa chirped merrily about her dinner plans with Lucius the whole way home, and Andromeda ate her feelings in the form of Honeyduke’s Extra Dark chocolate.

When the train pulled into King’s Cross, the weather matched her mood. The sky rumbled and fog hung low on the ground. She was happy to have an excuse to apparate home and not stand around, pretending to be happy her school days were over. The weather at home was worse as the sky opened up and the yard was made invisible in the distance because of the deluge. Everything was gray.

Andromeda made an excuse about her stomach and went up to her room. The elf would bring her trunk in the morning. She climbed into bed in her clothes and pulled the covers up over her head. The flood of anxiety and dark thoughts quieted, and she was numb. She went to sleep. 

~❀~

A sudden clap of thunder woke Andromeda with a start. She heard her window rattle, but the room was pitch black. Andromeda lit her wand and went to check the shutters. Ted Tonks, dripping wet, was perched outside her window tapping on the glass as the rain soaked him. She rushed to open it and pull him in. How he had not slipped on the ledge and fallen to his death was a mystery.

“How— what— you’re soaked!” she hissed. She turned and cast an impenetrable silence charm on the room to keep her parents from hearing him. Ted climbed over the sill, dripping water on the Chinese rug. His golden hair hung down in his face and his clothes clung to him.

“I figured out where you lived,” he said. “I needed to see you.”

“Ted, I can’t,” she said.

“Please,” he replied, his voice crackling. Was he crying? It was hard to tell when he was so wet. Andromeda froze, the knot twisting tighter in her stomach. “This isn’t easy, so let me just say it.”

“You’ll be sick,” she said. She started to turn to light the fire, but he caught her hand.

“Andromeda, I love you,” he blurted.

She stared at him, unable to believe this was reality and not a dream.

“Did you hear me?” he finally asked.

She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.

“I love you,” he repeated. “And I’ll do anything to be with you, even if that means playing this stupid sneaking around game for a while longer. I’m not ready for this to be over.”

This was her breaking point. She had no self control when it came to Ted, and as everyone loved to point out, she was generally so behaved. She fought back tears, wringing her hands together as she watched him. He was just standing there, soaked to the bone, with those hazel eyes.

“Say something, for God’s sake,” he pleaded.

“I love you too,” she said, barely louder than a whisper.

Ted stepped forward and swept her into his arms, their bodies crashing together as he kissed her. The icy rain soaked through her clothing as they embraced, Ted’s tongue roughly battling her own. She grabbed his sopping t-shirt and pulled it over his head before dropping it on the rug. He fumbled with the buttons on her blouse, ripping a stitch in his hurry to get it off of her. His shoes were kicked off and his shorts followed, then her skirt, her bra, her underpants, and his. Forget the pants rule, they were both completely naked by the time they stumbled back to her bed.

Andromeda scooted back as Ted held himself above her. He nipped her neck and collarbone. His hands roamed her body, settling between her thighs, feeling her warmth and wetness grow. His actions slowed, and he opened his eyes to look into hers as his erection pressed into her thigh. “We don’t have to do this,” he said.

She ran her fingers over the stubble on his jaw, looking back up at him with serious intent. “I want to,” she said. If you were going to make a mistake, you might as well do it with gusto. She didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but for now she could be happy.

Ted pressed the head of his penis against her entrance, pausing and giving her a moment to stop him. When she responded by capturing his lips, he pushed slowly inside. Andromeda gripped his back, feeling slightly stretched. She took a deep breath and relaxed. Ted withdrew and slid back in, and this time her body accepted him more readily.

“I can’t begin to explain how good this feels,” he mumbled, holding still and looking like he was focusing very hard. “I just need a moment or this won’t last very long,” he said.

Andromeda ran her fingers along his cheek and then down his neck. She shifted her hips ever so slightly to get comfortable, but being careful not to set him off. When he started moving again it was slow and steady, and it felt amazing.

Andromeda closed her eyes and tipped her head back on the pillow. He tried to land a few kisses on her throat, but his movement made it difficult. She spread her legs wider and raised her knees, and Ted went deeper. They moved together, Andromeda experimenting with tipping her hips to meet his thrusts. Little jolts of pleasure shot through her, starting from deeper inside than they ever had before, and Andromeda found that while it felt good, it felt really good if she could get him to come in at just the right angle.

Ted’s fingers curled around the bedding as he continued thrusting. His speed was increasing. Andromeda hooked a foot around his backside, pulling him all the way in with each stroke. The twinge of pleasure grew with each thrust until she was sent over the edge. She unwound, gasping, crying out, and clinging to him. Her muscles clamped down, making her body tighter as he thrust more frantically, his face twisting up. As her orgasm peaked and subsided, she became more sensitive. It was almost too much, and then he came. His groan as he found his release was almost a roar, and the last movements of his hips were more of involuntary spasms than purposeful strokes.

When he was still, Andromeda opened her eyes. Ted panted and bit his lip as he slowly withdrew, already beginning to go soft. He collapsed next to her on the bed. Andromeda gasped for breath.

“I didn’t expect that when I apparated here,” he finally said.

Andromeda pulled the sheets up over their naked bodies. She could feel the semen leaking out of her, but her wand was somewhere on the floor, so she decided to clean up later. “We should have… I don’t think it’s a huge risk at this point in my cycle but we should have done some research on spells or brewed a potion.”

“For… oh,” Ted said. “Or we could use condoms.”

“What?”

Ted smiled and turned, pressing his chin to her shoulder. “I tried to explain them once but I got all flustered. It’s a little piece of latex rubber you slide down over your you-know. Catches all that stuff and then you throw it away.”

“Does it feel any good?”

Ted shrugged. “Mates say not quite the same, but it’s better than the clap.”

A little seed of worry grew in Andromeda, but she pushed it away. Her period was due tomorrow. The biology was heavily in her favor. She turned onto her side to face him. “One of us needs to get out of bed to get a wand,” she said. She was sticky, and his hair was wet. She knew if he got up, he would likely have to go. Sleeping here was not an option. If her father found him here, naked, he would be likely murdered on the spot.

“Come visit me,” he said, his hand running along her side. “I’m getting a flat, starting training on a job… pretend you’re visiting Paris with Pyxis or something.”

“A job?” she asked, derailed by this news. They hadn’t exactly spoken much since exams began.

He nodded. “They’re placing me as an intern in a muggle newsroom and training me to be a watchdog,” he said. “Ministry is giving me a false resume. Three days a week I’ll be there in London and two days a week I’ll train with obliviators.”

“Oh wow, Ted, that’s like the first step to your dream.”

He pushed her hair back. “It is,” he said. “But what I really want more than anything else right now is to see your face when I wake up one morning.”

This was never just a fling, Andromeda realized. For either of them.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Andromeda said.

Thunder clapped outside the window. Ted sat up, looking back at Andromeda, giving her a chance to stop him from leaving her bed. She knew she had to let him go. Ted climbed out of bed and gave Andromeda her wand. She pointed it below the sheets and cast a cleaning spell, one that would be gentle on her body. Ted dried his clothes with his wand, explaining that they would be easier to put on if they didn’t stick to his body.

Andromeda got out of bed to help him. She slipped a night dress on first because she knew they were at risk of winding up back in bed again. When she had kissed him goodbye, she recast the silence charm just to be safe and stood back. Ted waved and apparated away, leaving Andromeda to try to sleep and wonder when they could see each other again.


	12. The Party Crasher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone finds out about Ted and Andromeda's secret.

**Chapter Twelve:**   
**The Party Crasher**

Andromeda and Ted did not get to see each other as frequently as they had at Hogwarts, but they got quite good at sending secure messages via patronus, and by the end of July they had met up just shy of dozen times, mostly in his London flat. Andromeda couldn’t constantly tell her parents that she was crashing with Pyxis, so when they were feeling brave or when the Black parents left town, Andromeda set trip charms in the hall to alert them if Narcissa was coming to her bedroom, and they stayed in her cozy four-poster bed.

There was a lot more talking when they met up— about his career or about parties Andromeda got dragged to and the horrible things people said at them. One night after shagging twice in a row, Andromeda had admitted to Ted that she thought her oldest sister might be involved with the Death Eaters, who had attacked a muggle cinema the night before. Ted had to explain movies to Andromeda because the Prophet had done a rubbish job. The obliviators, in crisis mode, had brought Ted along to the cleanup where they wiped memories and convinced the police and press that carbon monoxide had killed the eight people taken out by the killing curse.

Ted wanted to the things normal couples had. He wanted to tell his coworkers about his girlfriend. He wanted to go out with her in public. He wanted to fall asleep in her bed without worrying that they would be discovered. But he couldn't have those things right now, and so when his friends went out on a Friday night to drink and catch up, Ted went alone. He met up with Steven and Amos and Amos's new girlfriend, a Hufflepuff who had graduated a year ahead of them named Constance.

They went to a wizarding club in London. There was a coded knock to get in, and the dark interior was lit by floating orbs filled with fireflies. A rock band was playing on stage. Amos got everyone beers. When Constance decided she wanted to dance, Amos dissappeared onto the floor. Steven and Ted were left alone to drink and chat.

"So..." Steven said, playing with his bottle cap on the table, spinning it and stopping it under his hand. "How are you holding up?"

"Hmm?" Ted asked, the mouth of a beer bottle pressed to his lips.

"The breakup," Steven said.

"Oh. That didn't happen."

"No?" Steven asked.

Ted was about to explain, but he noticed that they were being watched. A pair of witches had stopped a few feet from their table as if debating whether to approach. Steven followed Ted's gaze and waved. "Hi, can we help you?"

There were two witches. One had rich black skin and long braids tied back into a ponytail. She wore yellow robes and gold jewelry. The other was pale with fiery red hair and cool blue eyes. They were both quite fit. If Ted were single, he wouldn't have minded dancing with either of them.

"My friend here wants to know if you'd like to dance," the ginger witch said, addressing Ted.

"Me?" he sat up a little. It was flattering to be desired, that was always true. "Sorry. My heart belongs to someone special," he said.

"Where is she tonight?" the ginger witch asked.

"Locked away in a tower," Steven said. "Their love is forbidden." He patted Ted on the back. "I, however, am not promised to anyone and would love to dance if either-- or both of you-- would settle for me."

Ted watched Steven head off to dance with the girls. Stephen hadn't dated anyone seriously since his breakup last fall. It was probably best. It was mental to be locked in to something long term by the time you were fifteen. Steven needed to date around a little. To have fun.

Was Ted mental? He finished his beer and went to the bar for a second. That witch was right. This was the kind of place he should be bringing his girlfriend. Steven joined Ted in line for the bar. He'd was buying drinks for both girls. Ted thought that could get messy if they were at all competing for his attention, but he kept his mouth shut on that topic.

"So," Steven said, waiting for their drinks to be mixed. "You didn't break up."

"No," Ted said. "In fact, we're no longer _almost _shagging."

"You dog!" Steven said. "Well, good for you. I mean, what did you say it was, November? That's almost ten months. That's more than a fling."

"It is," Ted admitted. "I'm in love."

The bartender handed Ted a beer and then finished mixing Steven's drinks.

Steven turned and looked back his new dates who were dancing with each other now. "Now you and Amos are off the market, that leaves more opportunity for me."

Ted sipped his drink. "Funny, because back in the fall this girl was being real sweet and chatty in the commons. Turned out she wanted to know if _you_ were single."

"Moi?" he asked, smiling and dramatically gesturing to himself.

"Oui," Ted said. Steven was training with Ballycastle. He was a professional Quidditch player and handsome to boot. He didn't need much help finding dates. Ted was sure he'd pick someone when he was ready to get serious again.

Steven accepted his fruity drinks from the bartender and left a tip. He disappeared back out onto the dance floor. It was the last of the month. The train left for Hogwarts without them tomorrow. The only place Ted wanted to be was with Andromeda. And the drinks were making him a little bit frisky. He decided to go for it.

He pounded back his third drink and left the bottle on the counter. Ted knew he couldn't just leave without letting his friends know he was home safe, so he cast his patronus and sent it off to thank Amos for the first two rounds and let him know he was out. Then he went out back to apparate.

~❀~

The world was growing darker around them, but when Ted and Andromeda were together behind closed doors, for a few hours none of it mattered. Of course, to the Blacks, everything was fine. They had nothing to worry about because Voldemort’s agenda favored their interests. On August thirty-first, one night after another deadly attack that killed muggle children, they held a party to celebrate that Sirius’s brother and Andromeda’s cousin, Regulus, was going to Hogwarts the next day.

It was late and the parents had withdrawn into Cygnus’s study to talk privately. Sirius and Regulus were playing with a new exploding snap set and Narcissa had gone to walk the grounds with Lucius. Bellatrix had gone home hours before because Rodolphus had an important meeting in the morning. Andromeda slipped up to her bedroom to read. Ted was waiting inside.

“Are you insane?” she asked with a grin, casting a silencing charm on the door behind her to keep any noise from drifting out into the hallway. She could get quite noisy when he did everything right, and she had grown accustomed to using the charm even when they were at his flat.

Ted stepped up behind her while she cast the charm and slipped his arms around her middle. She was wearing satin dress robes, and his hands roamed her body, the fabric easily slipping across her stomach and thighs as he touched her.

“I was just feeling nostalgic,” he said in her ear. His breath smelled yeasty. He'd been drinking beer. “Hogwarts express leaves tomorrow, and we won’t be on it.”

“Yes, Narcissa was lamenting having to choose which clothing to bring,” Andromeda said. “It’s strange, having nowhere to go.” And then she stopped speaking because his hand was pressing against her through her clothes, rubbing between her legs. She closed her eyes and let her weight settle back against his chest. He nipped her neck. “Nostalgic or randy?” She asked.

“Can’t I be both?” He slid a hand up her body and firmly squeezed her breast. Andromeda tipped her hips back, pressing her backside into him, feeling him hard against her through all their clothing. It was never enough. He could bring her from zero to ten so quickly. Her plans to sleep and read were forgotten now, and she just needed to have him inside her.

Ted bit down gently on her neck as he continued to pull her robes up. The satin glided up her legs, hips, and thighs before he broke contact with her body long enough to pull the fabric over her head. He grabbed her hips and pulled her backside roughly against his pelvis. Andromeda reached back, pushing her hand between them to feel him through his trousers as his hand plunged into her underwear, his fingers finding their wet, warm home.

“Ted,” she gasped, closing her eyes and tipping her chin up. He continued to nibble at her throat as his left hand squeezed her breasts through her thin lace bra. His palm pressed into her mound, rubbing her clitoris as his fingertips explored her.

“Almost one year,” he gasped.

“Since what?” she asked, her voice a whimper.

“Since you snatched that joint from me and I thought, now here’s a girl with a secret side I have to see.” He nipped her earlobe.

“And now you’ve seen plenty,” she chuckled.

“Always need more,” he said, and he withdrew his hand and let her go. She spun around and started to work peeling off his t-shirt while he pulled his belt from the loops on his jeans.

Andromeda stepped back as he kicked off his shoes and dropped his trousers. She reached behind her back and popped the clasp on her bra before carefully climbing backwards onto her bed and beckoning with her index finger.

Ted scrambled out of his briefs and followed her to the bed. “Damnit ‘Dromeda,” he groaned, “You seem more fit every time I look at you.” He turned back to the floor to recover his trousers and the Muggle condom in the pocket. Andromeda shifted on the bed as he opened the foil, attempted to put it on, cursed about it being the wrong way, turned the thing over, and rolled it down over his shaft. It wasn’t an ideal solution, but it was certainly more discreet than trying to hide prevention potions from her family— especially when they were so complicated to brew and had to be taken regularly.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to kiss her slowly. His throbbing erection was rock hard pressed against her stomach. Her body twinged with need.

He broke the kiss and muttered, “Turn over.”

Andromeda hesitated at first and then obeyed. She turned around and bent forward, grabbing her two pillows and tucking them under her body for support. Ted’s hands wandered her thighs and backside as the head of his penis pressed against her. She pushed back, pressing him harder and urging him to stop teasing. He grabbed her breasts, their full weight heavy in his palms.

“Ted,” she pleaded. Her body ached as if straining to find him.

Ted pushed forward and entered her easily. It was so different, as if everything was flipped, the gentle curve of his shaft hitting new places, and he was able to push deeper inside her.

“How’s that?” he asked.

“Good,” she said, her mind coming up blank for more descriptive words.

He reached around her, his chest pressed to her back, and found her clitoris with his fingertips. He rubbed in gentle circles as he started to move his hips, and Andromeda had all she could do to stay upright.

And then the door opened.

~❀~

They both heard it. Andromeda's instinct seemed to be to cast a charm to close the bedroom door, but their wands were on the floor with their clothes, and when she reached out her hand all she managed to do was make her wand shoot red sparks and skitter under the wardrobe.

Ted pulled out of Andromeda quickly and then grabbed the blankets and yanked, managing to cover their bodies but also knock them on the floor. Andromeda looked at the door with terror as tiny Sirius, red-faced and wide-eyed, closed it.

“Catch him!” Andromeda shouted.

Ted was up putting underpants on while Andromeda, barely covered in a throw blanket from the bed, groped around for a wand. She found his first, and Ted snatched it from her before opening the door and casting a hex down the hall. There was a thump and then Sirius, in a full body bind, came floating in the room.

Ted shut the door while Andromeda checked herself to make sure there was nothing obscene for her cousin to see.

“What did you see?” she asked after recasting the silencing charm. Ted wondered if he needed to obliviate him. Perhaps it would be safer if Andromeda did it. He had been drinking, after all.

“Mostly his arse,” Sirius said. “Thank god none of yours because, I mean we’re not Gaunts.”

“Sirius,” she said, her face as red as his. “What you saw...”

“I’m almost thirteen; I am well aware what shagging is.”

“Jesus Christ,” Ted said, pacing the floor.

“Sorry to say I didn’t see _him_,” Sirius said. “Mostly just you,” he added, pointing at Ted. Well it was great that he found this funny.

“Sirius,” Andromeda held the blanket around her like a dress and paced.

Ted held his wand up. “I can make it pretty precise. Just the past hour. He’ll think he fell asleep.”

“Woah, woah woah there buddy. You’re a Hufflepuff, right?” Sirius asked. “You’re gonna obliviate a fellow Wizard?”

“I forgot to lock it,” Andromeda said. To be fair to her, Ted had been very distracting. And he had been very distracted. He shifted uncomfortably in his trousers, still rock hard and unable to will his erection to go away with all the adrenaline coursing through his system. He sat on her bed and put a pillow in his lap.

“Yeah, well, the past is in the past. Can you please let me go? I promise I won’t tell anyone. Not Regulus, not Mother and Father, not James... okay I might tell James but he’s not going to tell anyone.”

“Sirius,” Andromeda said, stopping her pacing. “Sirius, Ted is muggleborn.”

“Well shit,” Sirius said. “Your Dad would bloody kill him.”

“I know.”

“_And _you,” Sirius said. “My mum would help.”

“I know,” Andromeda repeated.

“So its lucky for you I’m not a snitch. And it’s also lucky I came to fetch you for goodbyes instead of Reg or Cissy.”

“Fetch... shit. Ted, get out of here.”

Ted immediately began to scramble for the rest of his clothes. Andromeda threw a blanket over Sirius so he couldn’t see while she threw on a night dress.

“Send me a message so I know you’re alright,” Ted said as he climbed through the window.

“They won’t hurt me,” she said, but she hesitated.

"Send me a message," he repeated.

Andromeda nodded. He turned to press a kiss to his lips and then hopped down to the ledge below. He didn't know her cousin except by reputation. He just hoped Sirius could keep a secret. Their lives depended on it.

~❀~

Ted vanished into the dark and Andromeda crossed back to release Sirius. He collapsed on the floor when the full body bind was removed and bounced back up, shaking out stiff joints.

“You’re going to keep your mouth shut,” she said, wishing she could find her wand to threaten him.

“Like I said, not planning on telling anyone. You’re my favorite cousin. I’d be rather stupid to snitch and get stuck with nothing but Cissy and Bella for the rest of my life.”

Andromeda heard footsteps in the hall. She checked her hair in the mirror. “Promise,” Sirius said. “I’d even take an unbreakable vow.”

Narcissa opened the door and peaked in.

“I accidentally woke her,” Sirius said, flashing an adorable smile at Narcissa.

“We’ve got an early train, we should be sleeping too,” Narcissa replied. “We’ll tell your parents she was a poor host and already went to bed.”

“Just not feeling great,” Andromeda lied. “May be something I ate, or just sad I’m not returning to Hogwarts.”

Narcissa pouted. “You’ll be up to send me off, right?”

“Of course,” Andromeda said with a forced smile. Her heart was still racing.

“See ya at King’s Cross then,” Sirius said before dashing out the door. He’d escaped a memory charm.

“He’s in a hurry,” Narcissa said, turning back into the hall.

“When isn’t he?”

It was hard to sleep that night, worrying about what Sirius had seen and how much worse it could have been. The next morning Andromeda was up early to send Ted a message that all was clear. She apparated with her family to the train station. “Wish we could just apparate to school,” Narcissa said as she looked around for her tardy fiancé.

Sirius had already found one of his friends, a skinny brunette boy with bags under his eyes, and was getting on the train when Andromeda stopped him.

“Hey,” he said. “Can we just... like forget last night? I don’t need to be reminded how close I came to seeing too much.”

“Only if I have your word that you won’t tell a soul.”

“I swear on Quidditch.”

That was enough for Andromeda. “Alright,” she said.

“Do you love him?” Sirius asked as she was turning to leave.

Andromeda turned back and nodded.

“Then you’ve got to figure that out cous', because that will not fly at home.”

“I know. It’s already doomed.”

“No, I mean, figure out a good shield charm. Never not do something just because your parents will get upset. Would I ever have any fun if I let that stop me?” And with that Sirius bounded onto the train. Easy for him to say, she thought. Detention was a little less serious than getting caught in bed with a muggleborn boyfriend.

But Sirius's words gave her food for thought. Would her parents ever get over it if she declared her love for Ted? Would they really hurt her? (Okay her Aunt definitely would.) They had come so close to being caught in the act. Maybe they needed to stop.

But it was hard to convince yourself that you _should_ do something when every fiber of your being wanted something else. And Andromeda _didn't_ want to stop.


	13. The Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted and Andromeda come to a crossroads.

**Chapter Thirteen:  
The Fight**

Andromeda and Ted managed to finish their interrupted encounter later that week, and then again two days later, and once more in mid-September. Andromeda took up volunteering at St. Mungo’s and then fudged the hours with her parents so that she could spend a few hours every week in bed with Ted. Then one night at the end of a September, when Andromeda was supposed to be staying with Pyxis, Ted convinced her to come to a party at work: the newspaper. Nobody would recognize her there, but she was still very nervous.

Ted and Pyxis conspired to find her the perfect muggle dress, a gauzy Grecian dress in rainbow pastels with a silver belt at the waist. Ted whistled as he walked into the bedroom of his London flat, a sparsely decorated room with a blue plaid comforter on the bed and little else, and worked on securing his own necktie.

“What do I talk about?” Andromeda asked. “Do they have sports?”

“Football, cricket, rugby. Mostly football. Say you go for Blackpool and they'll feel sorry for you and clam up.”

“Are they like Chudley?”

Ted nodded, “Fortunes come and go, but lately mostly they go.” Ted stopped fussing with his tie and looked in the mirror. “Hmm, not too bad.”

“You look fantastic,” Andromeda said. “I want to tear it all off of you.”

“Tempting as that is, I have to be at this party. I'm hob-knobbing, working my way into more important places. Obliviating can only get you so far.” Ted ran a comb through his hair and then rubbed his hands together. “Ready, love?”

“No, but I'll smile and pretend like I do at every party.”

Ted pouted.

“I'll be fine,” she assured him. “But your coworkers might think I'm mad or daft. I don't know anything about muggles.”

She was right to be worried. Every conversation was about cars or movies or politics or football. Andromeda hung on Ted’s arm all night while he tried to cover for her knowledge gap. He had hoped that she would relax after a while, but she seemed more awkward and more flustered with each conversation. When someone tried to include her by asking her a question, she looked like a deer in the headlights. She didn't know muggle books, she only knew outdated muggle music (and only a little of that), and she couldn't even tell people where she went to school. Ted related on that front. He had lied to his childhood friends for seven years about where he was attending.

At Ted went off to refresh their drinks and left Andromeda alone. He thought she would be safe, but when he came back she was roped into a conversation with a gaggle of wives. She was trying her best to escape politely and failing.

Ted had already met them at previous events. Susan, Mary, and Eloise.

“We haven’t seen you at an office party before. Are you with the handsome young man?” Mary asked.

“Oh, yes, that’s Ted,” Andromeda said, her eyes landing on Ted. “My boyfriend.”

Ted waved, and she reached out for him, desperate. Ted stepped up beside her and put his arm around Andromeda. "Hi," he said, passing Andromeda her a glass of wine, which she anxiously gulped.

“And what’s your name dear?” Eloise asked Andromeda.

“Andromeda. Andromeda Black.”

“Andromeda? That’s a unique name,” Susan said.

“Is it?” Andromeda asked.

“Are you by any chance related to Ernie Black?” Mary asked.

“Oh, no. I don’t think so.” Ted was pretty sure there was zero chance she was related to _anyone _they knew.

"Dear, there's someone I want to introduce you with," Ted said, trying to help Andromeda's escape. "It was lovely seeing you ladies."

Towards the end of the night, too many drinks in, Andromeda slipped away while Ted chatted about a comedy program with a rotund older gentleman who worked in his office. He wanted to go find her, but he felt guilty. They had never been out on a date. Their families would never get along or even meet. His career was doing something she didn't understand, and she was stuck at home. And now he had dragged her here where she didn't know anyone, couldn't converse with anyone, and had to hide who she was.

Half an hour later, when she still hadn't reappeared, Ted went to find Eloise. "Hey, El," Ted said. Ted worked with her husband a lot and they'd all been out to lunch. She was nice, gentle, and he needed someone to look for Andromeda in the bathroom. "I can't find Andromeda," he said. "Can you check the ladies'?"

Eloise nodded and slipped into the bathroom. Ted went to the coat check and came back to wait in the hall. She had just stepped out of the bathroom. Had she been hiding in there?

“Everything alright?” he asked.

Andromeda nodded. “Are we going?” she asked.

“I thought you might have fled.”

“Considered it,” she said honestly.

Now Ted felt really bad. He had just wanted to be a normal couple for one night. "Alright," he said. "Let's go." He needed to make this up to her somehow.

~❀~

Ted and Andromeda made their way outside, but Susan and a man Andromeda guessed was her husband were outside chatting with another couple, and Ted shook his head to indicate that slipping into an alley to apparate was not an option. Andromeda was miserable and she didn’t want to spend another minute trying to connect to muggles, so she waited silently as Ted hailed a taxi. She had never been in an automobile before and felt awkward ducking her head to get inside. The back seat smelled vaguely of smoke and old chips.

The back seat was dark, and the car swayed as it moved through traffic. Andromeda hated the sensation of moving while sitting still.

“You okay?” Ted asked.

“This is strange,” she said. “This... this vehicle.”

“Holy... you’ve never been in a taxi?”

“I’ve never been in anything like this.”

“You’ve never ridden in an automobile? How did your parents get you to King’s Cross?”

“Floo. We know someone with a fire nearby.”

“And then you walked the last leg with trunks and owls?”

Andromeda shrugged. Was that wrong with that? “My father would never let us ride in one of these. He said when he was a boy they took carriages.”

“Jesus, that’s wild. Never been in a...” he trailed off noticing her sour expression. “I’m not making fun of you, I just--I’m surprised.” Andromeda was quiet for a minute, and before she could choose her next words he spoke again. “You’re not alright. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know why I came tonight.”

“Why you...” Ted pushed his blond hair back away from his face and chewed his lip for a moment. “I mean you’re my girlfriend. You came to support me.”

“How? How was any of that support? I couldn’t talk to anyone. I looked stupid. Even my name was amusing to those muggles. I had nothing to offer in there. I don’t belong in there.”

“Hey, you were fine. It will get easier. You can read some books. Besides, you looked great and nobody—”

“Nobody needed me to say anything? Just look pretty?”

“Hey, I did not say that.”

“But it’s true. I was there to be a woman on your arm, and I was about as effective as a doll. I don’t belong in that world. And that’s your world, and I’m useless there.” She felt useless everywhere. His world. Her world. She was just floating along.

“‘Dromeda,” Ted started. But she didn’t want him to sweet talk her into calming down. She’d had plenty of time to stew on this during the party, and she wasn’t about to have him sweep her fears away, seduce her again, and put off reality until another day.

“It didn’t even feel right telling people I was your girlfriend. It’s not really true, is it? A girlfriend is someone you’re moving towards a future with, and we don’t have that.”

“We could,” he cut in. “All you have to do is stand up to—“

“No amount of gusto or candid conversation is going to make my parents accept you. They won’t respect my honesty and decide that wow, they really misjudged muggleborns. That’s not reality, Ted.”

“Then screw ‘em.”

“If I told you to give up your parents for me right now, would you?”

“That’s insane.”

“Of course it is,” she said.

“But that’s different,” he shot back, his voice raising.

“How?” she asked, and the driver must have been hearing everything now because they were yelling.

“Because my parents aren’t Nazis!”

Andromeda didn’t know much about muggle history, but even wizards knew who Nazis were. When Cygnus and Alphard Black were boys, they had lived at Grimmauld Place. But the war and the bombardment by Nazis had forced the family to move to their country manor. Cygnus and Andromeda’s mother had stayed there after the war, but Alphard had moved his wife back to London, and not six years later, Bellatrix was born.

“My parents are not Nazis,” she snapped. “Nazis killed people.”

“Then tell me what the Death Eaters are doing. You said it yourself, you think your sister is one of them.”

Andromeda was so angry, angry he would use that confidence in their argument, but more angry that his comparison wasn’t too far off. The car had stopped and the driver was waiting to find a time to interject. Andromeda opened the door with her wand and climbed out. Ted hurried to pay the cabbie while she marched down the street toward his flat.

“Andromeda,” he called. “Slow down.”

She just wanted to get her overnight bag and go, but she knew she couldn’t go home without questions. She stopped at the top of the stairs outside his flat. He unlocked it and stood in the doorway watching as she went to the bedroom to grab her things.

“Are you leaving?” he asked.

“I can’t be here. I just want to go.”

“Andromeda,” he said, and then took a deep breath. “Calm down. Take a minute—“

“You’re acting like I’m just swept up in some momentary insanity of emotions, but I’m not. This--” she pointed between them, “This is the emotional, irrational thing. Me leaving right now is the sane thing to do. We don’t belong together. It can’t work. And the longer we pretend this is anything more than temporary insanity, the more it’s going to hurt when it’s over.”

“You love me,” he said.

“Love isn’t enough.” She buckled her bag and threw it over her shoulder. “My parents also love me. And Narcissa too.”

“But their love is conditional. And you’ve made yourself miserable trying to meet those conditions.” Ted was standing in the doorway, tears silently streaming down his face. Andromeda wanted to leave, but he was there, arms open, trying to reason with her. His voice wasn’t raised. He was just there. She couldn’t look at him.

“Get out of my way, Ted.”

He hesitated and then stepped out of the way. Andromeda walked past.

“I love you,” he said in one last attempt to lure her back. Andromeda stopped at the top of the stairs, closed her eyes, and apparated away.

Pyxis was in her pajamas when she opened the door of her Puddlemere flat. Andromeda’s makeup was held in place by charms, but her eyes and cheeks were puffy from tears.

“Andy, oh my god, what happened?”

“I broke up with Ted,” Andromeda said. She didn’t need Pyxis to talk her out of it. She just needed someone to let her eat her feelings and cry. Pyxis stepped back to let Andromeda inside.


	14. The Fallout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the breakup.

**Chapter Fourteen:**   
**The Fallout**

Steven was the first (and only) person Ted told about the breakup. That was the silver lining to their secret relationship: usually when people went through a breakup, they had to keep facing that awkward situation where some well-meaning acquaintance who hadn't heard the news asked about their ex and opened up old wounds. Nobody except for Steven knew that Ted even had a girlfriend, so nobody could accidentally remind Ted.

Steven only let Ted mope around for a week before dragging him out. Amos had plans with his girlfriend, whom he seemed quite serious about, so the two single Hufflepuffs went out to a pub in Puddlemere where they were sure to meet only witches.

"Is it safe for you to be here?" Ted asked as they entered the pub. The place was packed. The brick walls were covered in moving photographs and newspaper clippings about the Puddlemere United Quidditch team. Steven, who was on Ballycastle's reserve now, was the enemy.

"Eh, I'm second string," he said. "I think we'll be fine."

"Your team beat Puddlemere in the semifinal final," Ted said.

"Right, but then we lost in the final. We can bond over our mutual hatred of Holyhead now," Steven said. He hopped up on a bar stool and gestured for Ted to take a seat next to him. Steven spun the stool around and surveyed the room. "Besides, every lady in this pub is a witch. That makes life simple."

"I'm muggleborn," Ted said, waving the bartender over. "If I were looking, I could date muggles."

"You are looking," Steven said. "You're single now."

Ted scowled. "Maybe."

"Maybe? She dumped you. Has she written you since?" Steven grabbed Ted's shoulder. Ted avoided his gaze. He refused to believe it was really over. They needed time. She had been drinking that night. Eventually they would work it out. "Now," Steven said, letting go of Ted. "Over there in that corner. Recognize those girls?"

Ted followed where Steven was pointing and saw a group of girls from their year. Two Gryffindors and a Hufflepuff. The same girl who had asked Ted if Steven was single over a year ago. "Yeah, Audrey was in our house," Ted said. "She was interested in you."

"Was she?" Steven asked. "Huh."

"What?" Ted asked. That huh didn't sound excited.

"Well, the girl to her right, Lotte... she was on the Gryffindor House team. I think she's a reserve for Puddlemere." It made sense. She was pretty and she was into Quidditch. If she was playing reserve, she and Steven had a lot they could talk about.

"Okay, so then talk to Lotte," Ted said. He wasn't sure he was ready to date, but it was a nice distraction playing wingman to Steven. It gave him something to do with his evenings now that he wasn't masterminding ways to meet up with Andromeda.

They ordered drinks, and once they arrived, they approached the table. "Hello ladies," Steven said, breaking the ice. "We thought we recognized you lot. Wanted to nip over and say hello."

"Oh," Audrey said. "Hi guys." Her thick brown curls were pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing a uniform from a shop in town, one that specialized in divination. Ted had never been able to buy into divination. Sure magic was real, but the ideas of free will and predicting the future just didn't jive.

"Hey," Ted said. "How's it going, Audrey?"

"It's going well," she said. "I've been working at Seer and Soothsayer down the street. You?"

"I'm in the muggle secrecy division of the ministry," Ted said. "I've got a job undercover at a muggle newspaper."

"Ooh," Lotte said. "That's neat."

"Yeah," Ted nodded. "It is pretty groovy." And then he remembered Steven. "Steven here is second keeper for Ballycastle," Ted said. "He got to play a bit this season when Castro was out with an injury."

"I saw," Lotte said, her eyes now trained on Steven. "Impressive."

"You're with Puddlemere, right?" Steven asked.

"Yes she is," Audrey added. "You're on her turf."

Steven asked if they could have a seat. Lotte and Audrey introduced their other friend, a quiet Gryffindor named Azalea. She didn't seem shy, just reserved. It was a rare quality in a Gryffindor. When she spoke it was insightful and important. Mostly she listened.

It became very clear as they chatted that Audrey had changed her interest from Steven to Ted. She kept touching his arm, and most of her comments and questions were addressed to him. Ted should have been excited. She was pretty, curvier than Andromeda with large breasts that seemed barely confined in the neckline of her robes. She was giving him all of the signals, but he couldn't stop thinking about Andromeda.

Finally, when Ted went to buy everyone a round of drinks, Audrey followed him to "help carry." They were in a wizard bar. He could have levitated drinks and nobody would have cared.

"Do you get to do any exciting sneaking around at work?" she asked, catching up to him. "Do you snoop in the editor's desk?"

Ted shook his head. "Mostly I listen and talk to people about what they're writing. Tip off the ministry if anything comes in that sounds like magic."

"Do they have you obliviate people?" she asked, leaning on the bar while he waited for drinks. His eyes flickered down to her cleavage and back up to her face. It stirred nothing in him.

"Not yet, but I may have to some day."

Ted and Audrey carried the drinks back to the table. Steven was in an argument with Lotte now about Quidditch. Some of the other teams were mad about a loophole in the rules that Ballycastle had exploited this season. Only seekers were allowed to touch the snitch, so Ballycastle in a key moment during the post-season had thrown a Quaffle at the snitch to knock it off course and stop an opponent's seeker from catching it in a steep dive. It had been dirty (Ted agreed), but Ballycastle stood by it. Anything that wasn't against the rules was just playing the game smarter. There was probably going to be a change in the rules next spring to forbid it, but Ballycastle had advanced in the series. Lotte and Steven were getting fired up as they discussed it.

"Finish your drinks, ladies," Lotte said as Ted passed them out. "I've got early practice tomorrow."

So much for Steven and Lotte making a connection.

"We should get together again sometime," Audrey said, her hand resting on the back of Ted's. Ted politely smiled. "Yeah. It would be neat to get all the Hufflepuffs from our year together for a night." He hoped he'd handled that well.

"Oh, sure, yeah." Audrey seemed to get the hint finally that Ted wasn't going to return her flirtations.

"Alright then," Steven said. "I too have an early practice. Ted, you ready to head out?"

Ted could only see this night going downhill, so he nodded. Steven and Lotte were tense. Audrey was rejected. It was time to make their escape. "You ladies have a nice evening," he said. "Don't drink and apparate."

When they were out of earshot, Steven leaned over to Ted. "Mate, she was trying to ask you out."

"I know," Ted said, reaching the floo fire and chugging his beer. he grabbed a pinch of powder from the pot. "And I was trying to let her down easy."

Steven shook his head. "Alright. One more week to mope. Then we'll try again."

"Maybe next time we'll find a bar that goes for Ballycastle," Ted said. And then he stepped into the fire and tossed the powder in the air, declaring the name of a floo point down the street from his flat.

~❀~

Andromeda spent a lot of time with Pyxis over the next few weeks. She didn’t want to explain her sour mood to her parents, and they weren’t around very often anyway. With Narcissa at Hogwarts, she was mostly alone in the house. And solitude was quiet. It left too much time to think. Pyxis was good at avoiding the topic of Ted and distracting Andromeda with stories about her internship at Witch Weekly. She didn’t prod Andromeda when she was too low to make jokes and gossip. Still, Andromeda felt like there was a rock in her gut that had taken up permanent residence, and she cried at night. In the mornings she felt tired and ill and didn’t want to get out of bed. It was similar to the way she felt before Narcissa’s miraculous discovery that Rabastan was sleeping around, only now it was worse because Andromeda knew what she was missing.

Andromeda’s attempts to avoid family failed the week before Halloween when her parents left for a holiday in Spain and Bellatrix showed up at the house. Andromeda was still in her nightgown at lunchtime when Bellatrix arrived, and she used her key to enter without knocking. Andromeda was in the library staring at the same page of_ Risk Management in Altered Timelines _that she had been staring at for half an hour when Bellatrix strolled in, her dark hair piled in a messy bun, wearing a low-cut black robe that exposed her shoulders and featured web-like lace around the neck.

“There you are,” she said, turning her head to read the title on Andromeda’s book. “Planning a trip?”

Ugh, Andromeda did not want to see Bellatrix, but the presence of another human made her mind kick into gear and cleared the fog she had been living in for days. “Do you ever wonder if there’s another timeline in existence where someone used a time turner and changed something that caused your entire life to turn out differently?”

“How so?” Bellatrix asked. “Like someone went back and stopped themselves from proposing to a girl who’d turn them down, and now I’m married to the minister of magic?”

“Exactly,” Andromeda said. Bellatrix was no good for empathy, but she was always up for a little mind puzzle. It was the one thing Andromeda appreciated about her. She was smarter than Narcissa. “Or way back someone change their routine to avoid getting mud on their favorite robes and now one of us is married to a muggle.”

“Don’t be grotesque, Andromeda,” Bellatrix said. “There is no timeline in which a Black sister would stoop so low.”

“Or perhaps instead of having Narcissa, mother and father got a cat.”

Bellatrix smirked. “That wouldn’t change much would it? Except maybe leave Lucius Malfoy open for you.”

“Lucius Malfoy would be a terrible match for me,” Andromeda said.

“Yes, I suppose. You can’t have a husband who spends more time looking at his own reflection than you.”

Bellatrix took the book from Andromeda’s hand and scanned the page she was reading. She set it aside, taking a moment to thoughtfully place Andromeda’s bookmark in the correct place.

“Why the visit?” Andromeda asked.

“You need me,” Bellatrix said. “You can’t sit in this old house alone all day, every day.”

“I volunteer at the hospital,” Andromeda said, her voice rising defensively.

“For a few hours a week and then you’re here acting like a sad Ravenclaw. In your dressing gown. You can’t marry a book, you know.”

“It would sure be better than a whoring Rabastan or a buggering Slughorn.”

“At least the Slughorn has a decent library,” Bellatrix said. “But no, you can’t marry a man who won’t give you children. Not unless you want to brew polyjuice every month to suit his fancy.” Bellatrix waggled an eyebrow.

“Now who’s being gross?” Though Andromeda was lost for a moment in a curious question: if two people copulated while one was using polyjuice, whose sperm would impregnate the woman?

Bellatrix opened the double doors to the library with her wand and beckoned Andromeda to follow her. Andromeda, who was tired and depressed, didn’t have the energy to resist whatever Bellatrix was planning as she lead her upstairs to her room.

“All this emphasis on marrying right now is absurd,” Andromeda said. “Mother and father waited to have us, and I don’t see you and Rodolphus having a baby.”

“Not for lack of trying,” Bellatrix said.

“Oh, I’m sorry... I didn’t...”

“The trying is the fun part. I hate babies.”

“Then why do you want one?”

“I figure let’s get the duty part out of the way and get a good nanny now. Then when they’re off to Hogwarts I can have fun. Besides, nobody really treats you like an adult until you have a family.”

“Don’t they?” Andromeda asked as they entered her room. The bed had been made by the House elf since she’d gotten up. Bellatrix crossed to the wardrobe.

“They do and they don’t. It’s like you’re half adult. You can’t possibly know anything about life or anything until you have children.”

“That’s absurd,” Andromeda said.

“Indeed. But it’s the nature of the game. Roddy and I will move up the ranks quickly when we start a good pureblood family.” She picked a set of robes from the wardrobe and handed them roughly to Andromeda, who was having flashbacks to when Bellatrix and Narcissa tarted her up to meet Slughorn at Easter.

“Up the ranks of what?” Andromeda asked, touching her hair to feel if it needed washing again.

Bellatrix hesitated. “Pureblood society. Do try to keep up, Andromeda.”

Andromeda started changing. At least her mind was off of Ted while she obeyed her sister. She thought about Bella’s comment about trying to conceive. “How long have you been trying?” she asked, pulling the sapphire blue robes Bellatrix had chosen over her head.

“Oh not long. Since July. It will happen.” Bellatrix started picking through the jewelry box.

“What if it doesn’t?” Andromeda wondered if Bellatrix would divorce Rodolphus if he were sterile. She thought it would be an awful thing to do, but she was well aware where Black family priorities lay.

Bellatrix smirked.

“What?”

“Never mind,” she said. She held a necklace up to match the dress.

“Oh come on,” Andromeda pulled her hair out of the way so Bellatrix could fasten the necklace.

“Well, rumor has it the new Fawley baby is actually a Prewett.”

Andromeda’s jaw fell. “So just sub one pureblood family with another?”

Bellatrix shrugged. “I think Calypso would have been smarter to stick with her husband’s older brother, but she made do.”

Andromeda didn’t voice her curiosity, but she wondered if Bella was implying the Lestrange brothers were likewise interchangeable. She ran a brush over her hair and took a few minutes to apply eyeliner and rouge while Bellatrix looked over the spines on her bookshelf. As she was finishing up her lipstick, an owl tapped at the window. Bellatrix let it in and passed the folded missive to Andromeda.

Andromeda recognized the handwriting that carefully penned her name. She shoved the letter in her nightstand drawer. She couldn’t read a letter from Ted now, not in front of Bellatrix.

“What’s that?” Bellatrix asked, failing at sounding casual.

“Pyxis’s latest romantic interest wants advice on birthday gifts,” she lied too easily.

“That’s the Ravenclaw girl you were always around?”

“Yes, I think this one is a keeper,” Andromeda said. She had to remember to tell Pyxis to make up a boyfriend if she ran into Bella anywhere.

“Well,” Bella said. “Let’s go. There’s a new place in Puddlemere I want to eat at, before it gets discovered by the Quidditch entourage. I want to use your bathroom and then we’ll apparate outside the pitch.”

Andromeda waited outside the bathroom door, itching to go back and read the letter from Ted. Bellatrix called through the door. “Andromeda, does Narcissa have any anti-cramping potions in her medicine cabinet? You’re out.”

“I’m out?” she asked. “I’ll go check.” Andromeda started up the hall to Narcissa’s room. She thought she had at least one left after her last period, unless Narcissa took it. But when she started to think about when exactly she’d seen it, she realized that had been August. It was late October. “Oh no, no, no,” she muttered as she walked down the hall. Andromeda counted back. Her last period was mid-August. That would put her next due mid-September. She was nearly six weeks late. “Shit,” she said as she opened Narcissa’s bedroom and looked around the pastel and white decor, trying to remember why she was even here. She stood in the doorway, frozen, counting and recounting in her head. It had been nearly ten weeks since the start of her last period. That was beyond late. This was more than a flu or a little weight loss. She had been quite late already when she had broken up with Ted.

“Andromeda,” Bellatrix called. Andromeda remembered herself and ran to check Narcissa’s cabinet. Bellatrix came into the room behind her as Andromeda was closing the white cabinet with sculpted pink rose knobs.

“All out, I think she stole mine.”

“That had to be a while ago.”

“Yeah, I’ve not been too bad these last few times,” Andromeda said. Lie.

“Lucky,” Bellatrix said. “Let’s go.”

And Andromeda obeyed, following Bellatrix around like a servant while on the inside she was screaming.

~❀~ 

All through lunch Andromeda’s mind wandered. How did she know for sure? Could she get an appointment at Mungo’s? Would it be safer to see a muggle healer? How would she pay them? Was there a home test, and would it be any more discreet to try to buy one of those than to see a healer who was legally bound to secrecy?

When Bellatrix dropped her off at home, Andromeda went to the family library in a hunt. She remembered seeing old books about homemaking and parenting in a dusty corner of the library, books published when her mother was young. She sat on the floor and pored over them and learned the perfect charm for extracting breast milk and a recipe for a “family planning” potion (that would have been nice months ago) but there was no test, no spell that would let her find out right away in the book.

Andromeda had spent half of lunch checking in with herself and recalling symptoms others had mentioned to her over the years. Maybe she wasn’t so much depressed as fatigued. Perhaps her nausea in the morning wasn’t anxiety and dread but simply nausea. She had done the responsible, rational thing and ended her relationship with Ted, but it was too late to please her parents if she was already pregnant by a muggleborn.

In a brief moment of insanity she wondered if she showed up and shagged Rabastan right now, if he’d believe the baby was his. The idea repulsed her, though, and was quickly pushed away.

And then she remembered the letter and ran up the stairs to her room to read it. The name on the front was carefully penned, and each letter formed inside was Ted’s best possible penmanship. In places the lines looked shaky from trying too hard. She braced herself in case it was a rebuke, but the words on the page were far from it.

> Andromeda,
> 
> I don’t need to tell you that I love you or that you love me. You’re anything but stupid. And if after this letter you decide never to see me again, I’ll respect your wish. I’ll never tell a soul what we had if it will make your life safe and happy. But I just don’t think it would make you happy to disappear into the life your parents have chosen for you. Even if it’s not with me, I do want you to be happy, because that’s the silly, unselfish thing about love. I want you. I’m hurting without you. But your pain wouldn’t make me feel any better. So believe me when I say this next bit is for you, not for me.
> 
> You’re a Slytherin. And it’s one of my favourite things about you; it’s what drew me to you: your passion. You have a mind and a heart full of desire that you stamp down every day. It’s going to eat you alive. You’re never going to be happy with their plan. And if everything you say is true about your family, they’re never going to be happy with who you really are. You deserve to be happy. You cannot live your life for them. It will kill you.
> 
> And here’s the selfish part, but only if you want it. I was being quite a tosser quietly waiting for you to choose me but telling you I was happy with limbo. I was asking you to give up everything without a commitment in return. I’m not okay with limbo, but I do have an offer to make. You can put your foot down and tell them what you do and do not want. I want to marry you. We won’t be rich like your folks, but I make enough to get you through healer training, and then we can be comfortable. We can have kids or not have kids. But you can do something that engages and inspires you.
> 
> My point is that you should be happier than you are now, so if you want to tell your parents to get buggered and you still don’t want a life with me, I can still probably help you find a flat mate and a part time job or something. But honestly my favorite option is the one where you become Mrs. Tonks.
> 
> Think about it. My grandmother just can’t wait to pass down her ring, so your finger wouldn’t go naked.
> 
> I love you.
> 
> Yours,
> 
> Ted

Tears were pouring down her face as she read the last of his letter. Andromeda read it over again before folding it up and tucking it back in the drawer. She needed a plan. She had less than a week until her parents came back from Spain, and she needed to have all of her information and options.

She started by sending a Patronus to Pyxis.


	15. The Cure For Itching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pyxis helps Andromeda in her time of need.

**Chapter Fifteen:**  
**The Cure For Itching**

Ted spent the rest of the day recovering from his hangover. He barely ate and drank plenty of water. By the time dinner rolled around, his stomach had bounced back and he was famished. He was just thinking about what he could cook when Steven showed up at his front door.

"Evening," Steven said when Ted opened the door. "Just checking to make sure you didn't drown in puke this morning. You were pretty smashed when I got you home."

"Yeah," Ted said, nodding. "Yeah, I'm okay. Had a raging headache this morning, but I'm okay."

"You able to process food?" Steven asked, pointing his thumb behind him.

Ted grabbed his coat and they headed out to a diner down the street. They walked in the dark, the wind biting their faces. Steven seemed worried. He kept glancing at Ted. "Did you make it to work?"

"Called in," Ted said.

"Hmm?"

"I uh--" of course this was a muggle phrase. "I owled in?"

"Ah, you stayed home sick."

Ted nodded. "Wrote a letter to Andromeda."

"Did you?" Steven asked. Yes, he was definitely worried.

"Told her I'd leave her alone if she wanted me too, but I just thought... her parents are awful. But they're her parents. And it's hard not to love your parents even when they are awful. Not that I would know. Mine are great."

"I get it. My Aunt is the worst," Steven said. "She's manipulative, can't keep a job, always asking for money. Yet my Dad puts up with it because she's his sister." Steven opened the door of the diner and held it for Ted. The place was casual, no hostess, so they seated themselves.

"Exactly," Ted said. "When we started this thing it was supposed to be casual. And it's gotten to be so much more. I just thought, would I betray my mum and dad for a casual fling, even if they were wrong? Why would you rock the boat, upset your dad, get disinherited, and maybe even get hexed by your awful sister for a relationship that might not work out."

Steven picked up a menu, but he listened instead of reading it. "You make a fair point, mate."

"So I proposed."

Steven just stared at Ted. He blinked a few times. "Excuse me, you did what?"

"I proposed. I told her I wanted to marry her."

"Are you bloody insane?" Steven asked.

Ted shrugged. Maybe he was, but he had felt a lot better since writing the letter. He wanted to be with Andromeda for the rest of his life. He had to lay it out there. If she said no he could scrape himself off the floor. Right now he was comforting himself with the idea that she could possibly say yes. "I know what I want," Ted said. "We click. _We_ make sense. It's just her parents who don't."

"She dumps you, and you respond by proposing?" Steven asked. "If that works..."

Steven trailed off, his eyes falling on a booth across the restaurant. Ted followed his gaze and noticed two wizards. They were dressed in long sweeping black coats with high-waisted trousers and waistcoats. They thought they were blending in with muggles, but they were failing. One of them had a wand perched on his lap, pointed across the way at a table with a muggle family. Ted watched as the muggle father reached for a mug of tea and held it to his lips. The handle on the mug cracked and the hot liquid splashed across his front. He shouted. The wizards chuckled.

"Son of a bitch," Ted murmured. Steven stood up. Ted followed and grabbed Steven by the arm, pulling him towards the door.

"Come on," Ted said. He needed to get outside to send a message to his boss.

Steven, fists clenched, wanted to fight. "We can't just lea--"

"A patronus will be easier to send from the alley," he said. "Safer."

"Who needs backup? We could take them," Steven stepped towards the wizards. Ted held his arm. He wasn't going to get into a duel in public and possibly lose. It would be far better to summon aurors to take care of it.

A third member of the wizard party was showing up as they approached the door. Rabastan Lestrange.

Rabastan almost didn't recognize Ted, but he did a double-take and narrowed his eyes. Ted thought now was a good time to bluff. "Those your friends over there?" Ted asked.

"Why do you care, mudblood?"

Charming. Ted glanced back at Steven. "Listen, I'm meeting friends here from work," Ted lied. "Muggle secrecy division. They should be here any minute. Maybe you should collect your boys and go."

Rabastan's lip curled in a cocky sneer. "Then why are you leaving?" he asked.

"Forgot his wallet in his auto. It's a muggle thing. It's got wheels," Steven said. "All we have is gold to pay."

Rabastan looked between them. Ted could tell from the way he held his hands under his cloak that he was gripping his wand. This could all go very badly. Rabastan looked back at his friends in their corner booth. They were just getting up to come see if there was trouble.

"Come on," he said, finally. "This place has garbage service. Let's go somewhere else." Rabastan, afraid to call Ted's bluff, lead his friends outside. Ted breathed a sigh of relief and returned to their booth. He was going to have to report this, but his stomach was growling and he was shaking from hunger and adrenaline.

Steven cursed and sat down. "Bloody tosser."

"Yeah. Come on. He's not worth getting arrested."

Steven sat down, mumbling under his breath, and the two friends had dinner.

~❀~

Pyxis apparated over as soon as she got off from work, despite not knowing the nature of Andromeda’s emergency. She arrived with takeout on the lawn beyond the apparating ward and came to the front door. As soon as Andromeda opened the large mahogany door, the words were tumbling over her lips. “Ted’s written a letter proposing marriage and before I say yes or no I need to know if I’m pregnant.”

Pyxis froze, bag in hand, and after a slow blink said, “I came prepared for another fight with Ted or a new arranged fiancé. I’m going to need a moment to process this one.”

Andromeda pulled her inside and shut the door. Pyxis set the food on a claw-footed sideboard nearby and pulled Andromeda into a hug. “How late are you?”

“Almost six weeks.

Pyxis pulled back and looked at Andromeda, holding her at arm’s length. “Sweet Merlin, that’s not good.”

The two women went into the kitchen. A startled house elf squeaked and ran from the room to be out of sight. Andromeda pulled up a stool to the counter and sat. “I feel really stupid for not putting it together, but shouldn’t I be throwing up or something?”

“That’s not actually universal. Didn't you use a potion?”

“We used condoms, the muggle things.” The great irony was the one time they didn't use anything, they were fine. She'd had her period three times since then.

“Witch Weekly had me research a family planning article back in July about this. They ended up not using my research on condoms because they thought it would be too racy for their audience to explain what a condom was, but sweetie, they fail 7% of the time. And only when used perfectly. They've gotten better since muggles first came up with them, but—“

“But at the rate we've used them, I probably should have gotten pregnant three times. Great. Fuck.” Andromeda buried her head in her arms.

Pyxis started opening food containers filled with classic comfort foods— pot roast, mash potatoes, macaroni and cheese, fish and chips. Andromeda, who had picked at her lunch and not eaten breakfast, was ravenous. “Glad you're not nauseous,” Pyxis said as Andromeda lifted her head to survey the food, “This is too much for just me.”

“Pot roast,” Andromeda said. “Haven't had this since Hogwarts.” Her parents expected more elevated dishes from their elf. She slid off her stool and went to find a fork. Her mind set to work— it was not in her nature to lament too long when a solution was needed. “I’ve given Mungo’s significant thought. My parents know most of the board. They’ve donated a lot. Those who aren’t their friends are their enemies. If I go in there and someone recognizes me— even if it's another patient, there’s a chance they’ll say something. And the time I have to figure this out gets cut very short if someone owls my parents in Spain to let them know I’m meeting with a fertility healer.”

“But that’s illegal,” Pyxis objected.

“For the healers, yes, but not other patients in the hallways. And not everyone is a law-abiding citizen. Bella and Rodolphus have a friend from school there, and I know he’s the type of violate confidentiality for his own purposes. They’re not magically bound, after all.” Andromeda had followed the case back in her fifth year at school when the Ministry of Magic considered passing laws to put healers under unbreakable vow. It was argued that it would hurt recruitment, and Andromeda agreed that it was a bad idea to put a death sentence on an accidental slip-up.

“So Mungo’s is out.”

“And we never learned a recipe for a pregnancy test in N.E.W.T. Level potions,” Andromeda said, digging a fork into the box of pot roast.

“Actually…” Pyxis trailed off.

“You’re kidding,” she replied through a mouthful of food.

“Remember that sixth year research essay on common household potions?”

“I did cleaning potions,” Andromeda remembered.

“And I did home remedies. Common cold and such.”

“And there was a pregnancy test potion?”

“No,” Pyxis said. “But there was a anti-itch potion with strange effects. You mix it up and slather it on bug bites, but I remember a footnote that for some strange reason the ingredients involved reacted funny if the patient was pregnant. Turned the paste violet.”

“Really?” Andromeda cocked her head. “Easy to brew?”

“Extremely. I used the recipe a few times this summer. Where are the potions ingredients?”

Andromeda lead Pyxis to the pantry outside the kitchen, the one filled with flies and leeches and dried herbs. Pyxis grabbed a couple things and brought them back to the kitchen. Andromeda summoned a cauldron from the bottom of the closet and levitated it to the kitchen counter. Then she sat down and had a bite of cheesy pasta.

“It smells decent,” Pyxis said, adding water to the cauldron and lighting a blue flame underneath it. “Like pine tar, but not too overpowering. And it actually kills the itch immediately. Never comes back.”

“And if I’m pregnant it will turn purple when it touches my skin?”

“Vividly.”

Andromeda ate while Pyxis worked. She felt thankful that the one person she grew close to at Hogwarts aside from Ted was resourceful and discreet and reliable. Narcissa had a lot of friends, but Pyxis was a quality mate.

After an hour, Pyxis snacking as she worked and remarking that Slughorn would scream if he saw them eating and working, the potion was ready. Pyxis turned off the flame and tapped the cauldron with her wand to chill it. “Let’s not give you a third degree burn on top of it all,” she said. “Wait.”

Pyxis tapped her fingers on the counter. Andromeda craned her neck to look in the cauldron. It was a lumpy grayish white paste, as far from vivid purple as could be. She was right that it smelled like pine, which was funny because there was no pine in the brew.

Finally after a long minute, Pyxis dipper her finger in the substance and smeared a dob of it along her inner forearm. It spread like toothpaste might, and it stayed white. Andromeda held out her arm and took a deep breath which she held.

Pyxis spread the substance on Andromeda’s wrist, and there was no wait. By the time her finger finished spreading the line, the start of it was the color and intensity of a common bluebell. Andromeda covered her mouth to choke back a startled cry.

“Woah,” Pyxis said, staring open-mouthed. It was clear she hadn’t expected such a rapid transition. She wiped the remaining paste from her finger onto a towel and then rounded the counter to hug Andromeda. Andromeda turned her face into Pyxis’s shoulder, her eyes burning with tears. “Hey, it’s okay. We’ll come up with a plan. At least the father isn’t Rabastan.”

Andromeda laughed and cried at the same time, and Pyxis held her tighter.

After a few minutes of crying all over Pyxis’s robes, Andromeda sat back. She wiped her eyes, her unfixed makeup smearing across her hands and blue robes. She dipped her finger in the cauldron and watched the paste on her finger turn purple. It would have been an amusing trick in different circumstances.

“So…” Pyxis said. “Do you want to tell Ted? Or…?”

“I briefly considered tricking Rabastan into thinking it was his.”

Pyxis wrinkled her nose. “But then you’d have to shag Rabastan.

Andromeda let out a bark of laughter. “He’s not bad to look at but he’s vile.”

“I suppose it’s not too late to…” Pyxis didn’t finish her sentence, but Andromeda knew she was suggesting terminating the pregnancy. Andromeda didn’t think she could do that and wasn’t sure she wanted to. “My advice is pack some bags and get them to my flat or Ted’s before you tell your parents.”

Andromeda nodded. “It won’t be good to stick around once I’ve opened that can of worms.”

Andromeda and Pyxis went upstairs and started sorting through the essential books and jewelry to pack. Andromeda had a few days until the Blacks returned. She was in no hurry to resolve this tonight, and she wanted a night to sleep on the marriage proposal.

Pyxis stayed with her. They got the elf to bake them a big chocolate cake and stayed up chatting about wild stories from volunteering at the hospital, challenges at work for Pyxis, and guys. Every time Andromeda (red in the face) told a story about Ted, she felt warm inside, like she had just swallowed warm drinking chocolate. She couldn’t remember ever feeling like that at home with her family: safe, appreciated, seen.

The right choice had become clear to her, even before they turned out the lights.


	16. The News Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda talks to Ted about her news.

**Chapter Sixteen:**  
**The Wedding**

As an intern, Ted was often sent on errands. On this particular morning, Friday, the coffee maker in the office was broken and Ted was sent to fetch coffee for a few higher-ups. He was wondering if he could get away with charming the cups to prevent spills on the way back to the office when he recognized someone in front of him in line. He could only see the back of her head, but he was certain it was Pyxis.

"Pyxis," Ted said, considering tapping her on the shoulder and changing his mind so that his hand was awkwardly out in front of him when she turned around.

She looked like she had just seen a ghost. "Hiiiiii," she said, sounding very nervous. Was this awkward for her? It was awkward for him.

"Hey, er-- I just... is Andromeda doing alright?" he asked. He hadn't heard back since sending the letter and he assumed his owl should have made it some time yesterday. He just needed to know she was okay.

"Yep. Great, she's great," Pyxis said, looking away.

"I tried writing to her--"

"Oh look," she said, pointing to a little gold watch on her wrist. "I'm late for work!" She hopped out of line and left, the bell on the door ringing behind her.

Ted opened and closed his mouth. That was more than awkward. That was downright strange. Had Andromeda told her about the proposal? Was she avoiding him because she knew it was a no? Ted returned to work with an assortment of teas and coffees in his hands and a sense of unease in his chest.

~❀~

When Andromeda woke up at mid-morning the next day, her first thoughts were with Ted. She wondered if he had thought of her when he woke up. She wondered if he was in pain. She felt a pang of guilt for leaving him hanging even one night.

Pyxis, who had crashed down the hall in a guest bed, had left a note on Andromeda’s night stand. Andromeda turned and picked it up to read it, still nestled warm in her blankets.

> Andy,
> 
> Had to make it for the start of my shift. Owl if you need me for anything. You do what you think is best, and I’ll be there.
> 
> Love,
> 
> Pyxis

Andromeda got out of bed. She showered, put on makeup, and dressed in a skirt and blouse combination like she used to wear on the weekends. Andromeda positioned herself in front of the mirror and took a full inventory. The skirt still fit her nicely, but she knew she only had a few more weeks before that would change. The long line of her waist would swell and change, and she wasn’t sure if that body would ever be back the way it was now. In so many ways this was the point of no return.

She left the bag she and Pyxis packed— the most important personal belongings— on the floor by her door, and headed outside. She followed the path of stones that lead beyond the apparating ward and vanished with a little pop. When she reappeared, she was at a designated safe apparating spot in London, one that had charms to repel muggles so they wouldn’t come strolling down the alley. It was empty at that moment, except for Andromeda. She walked out onto the street and checked the map she had tucked in her purse to find the right road to the office building where Ted had taken her for the party.

She found it after about ten minutes of walking, and she walked up to the door of the newspaper office and approached the receptionist at the front desk. “I’m here to see Ted Tonks,” she said nervously.

“Oh, of course dear,” the woman said, and Andromeda realized it was one of the women from the party. She looked different in a cardigan and blouse, her makeup done differently for daytime wear. “How are you doing?”

“Good,” Andromeda said. She was not prepared to make small talk, so she searched her head for some innocuous status update. What did muggles do? They celebrated Halloween, right? “Just out planning a Halloween party with a friend,” she lied. “Her party, not mine. Thought I’d surprise Ted for lunch.”

The woman picked up an object from the table, a curved piece of plastic with a thick, coiled string attaching it to a box. She tapped a few buttons on the box and held the curved piece to connect her ear and mouth. Andromeda watched her, trying not to look too fascinated. A tiny, distorted voice seemed to whisper from the plastic into the woman’s ear. Andromeda tried to recall her name, but which one was Susan and which one was Mary wasn’t the part of that night she remembered, and she had been a bit tipsy. Now that she thought of it, she was going to need to check with a healer to make sure there were no adverse effects. She thought it was a miracle she hadn’t splinched herself that night.

The woman replaced the plastic horn onto the button box and smiled up at Andromeda. “You can take the lift to six. He’ll meet you in the hall. It was good to see you again, Andromeda.”

“You too,” she said, feeling guilty for not knowing her name. But now she had something else to worry about— how did a muggle lift work? How did they lift a metal box up and down a building? Did it run on the same thing as their lights?

She followed the signs and got into the box. The buttons seemed to work the same, but she hated the way the machine lurched when it started. Was this possibly safe?

When the door opened, Ted was standing in the hallway. He looked tired. He was dressed in a well-fitting suit with a striped tie and his hair neatly combed. There were shadows under his eyes. He looked up when the door opened and made an attempt to stand more rigidly. Andromeda took a deep breath and approached, holding her purse at her side. He kept his hands in his pockets and met her half way.

“It’s a good sign you’re here in person. You wouldn’t get all dressed up like that to tell me to piss off, would you?”

A little smile tugged at the corner of her lips. She tucked her hair behind her ear and licked her lips. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“Okay,” he said, nodding an awful lot. “Talk is good. Talk is better than running away.”

“Ted, don’t…”

“Sorry. I know it can’t be easy to be here.”

“Do you have an office?”

Ted laughed. “No. I’m really not very important. We could go get lunch.”

“It has to be a muggle place,” Andromeda said. “For now. I can pay you back for in galleons.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Do you know a place? Somewhere wizards don’t go?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Or if you have time we could order delivery and use one of the meeting rooms.”

Andromeda liked the idea of privacy and nodded. Ted took his hands out of his pockets. He waved for her to follow and stopped at a desk among a cluster of other desks. He picked up a plastic box like the one the receptionist used and put it to his ear. He pressed a few buttons and talked to someone in the box before putting it down. Andromeda had a lot of questions from her five minutes here, but she knew this was not the time.

Ted walked her to a meeting room with a glass door and opened it. She stepped inside the room with a long wooden table and high-backed chairs. Ted closed the door and shut the blinds. Andromeda took a seat in one of the chairs and set her purse on the table. Ted stood by the door and ran his hand through his hair. “I guess I don’t know what to say or how to behave until you give me some clue of why you came. Should I be defensive? Warm? You’re holding all the cards, ‘Dromeda.”

Deep breath. “You have that ring?”

There was a flash of confusion before Ted’s face split into a grin and he rushed to kneel in front of her. He took her hands off her lap, his face alight with joy. Andromeda couldn’t help but smile back at him. “No, I mean, I didn’t want to say anything to Nana until I knew there was a chance… but we can go right now and get it. I… have you told them?”

“No,” she said, her smile failing. “Not yet. But Ted, be—” he cut her off with his lips pressed against hers. Andromeda threw her arms around his neck and pulled him close. He wrapped his arms around her back. Heat coursed through her body at his touch. It had been too long since he’d held her, and she wanted to feel his body. They were used to illicit touches in dark corridors of Hogwarts. She wanted badly for him to take her right now on the conference room table, but now they had something more to lose. This job was all that stood between them and desperation. She broke the kiss before too long. Ted’s lips found her neck, but she pushed him away. “Wait,” she said.

“Maybe we should have gone somewhere public,” he said. “Keep us on our best behavior.”

“Ted there’s something I need to tell you.” She wiped the lipstick off his face and straightened his tie. She was sure his boss at the ministry wouldn’t approve of having to obliviate someone because he was getting off at work.

“Yeah?” He sat on his knees in front of her, letting her fuss over his appearance.

“I’m pregnant. Nearly ten weeks.”

His expression went flat. The color rushed out of his face. He blinked a few times, and Andromeda worried his resolve was failing him. “Ten weeks? Isn’t that like… a quarter of the thing?”

“I haven’t been to a healer yet. But my last period was mid-August and Pyxis and I did a sort of home test. Best guess I’m due in mid-May.”

“Wow,” he said, and he rubbed his mouth, pulling on his lips. “No wonder she was so weird when I saw her this morning. So this wedding needs to happen now,” he said. “No long engagement.”

She nodded.

“And you’re… would you marry me if you weren’t pregnant?”

Andromeda’s eyes stung. She shrugged. “Can’t lie, I probably would have vacillated for a few more months before coming to the decision to say fuck ‘em and run away with you.”

Ted laughed. He nodded. “Okay. I’m okay with a little shortcut if you are.”

“I’m okay.” She ran her hand fingers across his jaw. She was afraid, but she was happy, too. She only wanted to be with him. “But we need a plan.”

“I can take off early,” he said. “Take a half day. They expect it on a Friday and the news is slow.”

“My parents will be back from Spain day after tomorrow. I think it would be best to tell them when we’re already married. When there’s nothing they can do.” She knew it would have to be wizard legal, too, not just muggle legal. “The ministry office is swarming with people my family knows. If we go there, they’ll get called back from holiday early. But there’s a chapel in Puddlemere run by a nice old man. He’s a Weasley cousin, so he’s not chatting with any purists.”

“You’ve done research,” he said.

“Pyxis and I talked it over last night. She thought of Puddlemere because she went to a wedding there last summer.”

“So tonight or tomorrow?”

“Tonight,” she said. “I want to spend all day in bed tomorrow pretending Sunday afternoon doesn’t exist. Throw away that box of condoms.”

“Can’t get any more pregnant, can you,” he said.

There was a knock on the door. The deli across the street had delivered their sandwiches. Andromeda made sure her hair was tidy before Ted opened the door. He thanked the woman who brought their lunch and closed the door.

“Eat up,” he said, handing her roast beef on wheat. “I’ll have to go visit my grandmother to get the ring. And we’ll both need bands.”

Andromeda reached into her purse and pulled out a bag of galleons. “I’ll get something to wear and drop by Gringotts. My parents opened an account for me when I turned seventeen intending for that to be my wedding startup fund, but it’s in my name. Theirs aren’t on it and Goblins don’t talk. I’m going to empty it. It’s my gold. They may surprise me, but…”

“If they don’t, we should be ready,” he said.

“It’s only a couple thousand galleons. We can’t live off it more than a couple months.”

Ted unwrapped his sandwich. “Then maybe we should just move it to my account. Save it. We’ll need Hogwarts tuition before we know it.”

They ate and discussed their plans. When their food was gone, Ted cleaned up and threw things in a rubbish bin in the hall and went to talk to his supervisor. He was gone behind closed doors for a few minutes. An older man who wore a sweater instead of a jacket approached Andromeda and offered a handshake. She chatted with him about the weather in London for a few minutes (cool but pleasant) and then Ted came out. He took Andromeda’s hand and they got on the lift.

“Was your boss understanding?”

“He told me I should give more notice for a half day. But when I told him I’d knocked-up my girlfriend and I had to go marry her, he was very accommodating.”

“You— what?” she gaped.

“When I show up with a wedding band on Monday and baby photos in May, they’re going to gossip.”

"You're mad. We're mad."

"We're in love," Ted said, pulling her close. "It's an important distinction."


	17. The Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a wedding.

**Chapter Seventeen:**   
**The Wedding**

Andromeda and Ted ran their respective errands and met back at his flat around four in the afternoon. Andromeda dropped the bag of essentials along with the contents of her bank vault in Ted’s bedroom closet (the bag of gold had needed some charms so she could carry it!) Ted showered first and put on his new robes. Andromeda has picked something that would work for formal ministry events, black tailored robes with a black velvet torso, the arms and remaining length of the robes made of clean linen. The collar and cuffs were white, and Ted had a perfect pair of cuff links for them. Andromeda watched him dress, and her gaze made him feel excited and nervous and horny all at once.

When he was all buttoned up, he went into his briefcase and pulled out a tiny brown leather box. Andromeda, legs stretched out on the bed, realized what he was holding and sat up. He crossed the room and kneeled beside the bed, and she folded her legs underneath her and sat straight for her official proposal.

“Any second thoughts?” he asked.

“Millions,” she said. It was oddly comforting to hear. They had talked, laying in bed at his apartment, about how easy it had become lying to her parents. Ted remembered her saying she didn't want to do that with him. And here she was admitting her fears, even if it wasn't the most romantic thing to say before their vows. “But fear is just something to overcome, right?”

“You sound like a bloody Gryffindor,” he said with a grin. Ted opened the box. The ring was gold, a design of open filigree and twisted wire. Two small, round diamonds flanked and oval cut sapphire at the center, one blue like the early evening sky. Andromeda waited patiently for Ted to say his piece.

“Andromeda Black. Will you marry me?”

“Yes, Ted,” she said. Ted took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. She had given him her ring size before they went on their errands for the day and a Wizard jeweler had easily adjusted it. It was a perfect fit.

“The witch who did the resizing put a charm on it that will relax a bit if your fingers swell,” Ted said. “Cost extra but she said it was essential for a pregnant witch to have self-adjusting jewelry.”

Ted sat on the edge of the bed and Andromeda smoothed his collar. She looked at him for a moment and then pulled her hands back. “Go before I undress you and make us late.”

Andromeda was leaning in to superstition. She made Ted apparate ahead of her so she could get dressed without him seeing her. Pyxis was scheduled to arrive minutes after Ted left to do Andromeda’s hair for her after she was dressed.

Ted arrived at the chapel where Steven was already waiting in a set of clean gray dress robes, a box in his hand. "Look at you," Steven said, nodding approval. "Dapper."

"Andromeda is dressing," Ted said, unable to contain his smile. Maybe this wedding wasn't under ideal circumstances, but he wasn't going to argue with the results. He was marrying the woman of his dreams shortly. No matter how many guests they had or what her dress looked like, it would be perfect.

"So I wait here with the rings?" Steven asked.

Ted clapped him on the shoulder as he moved towards the door. "Yes. I have to go speak to the officiant. Can't see the bride."

"Good luck, mate," he said as Ted walked inside and found the man he was looking for--a tiny, shriveled old man with round spectacles and a whisp of white hair on his head. They went over the necessary paperwork to make sure everything was legal and then Steven poked his head in the door.

"Andromeda and her cute friend are here," he said. "She looks..." he gave a thumb's up.

"Andromeda or Pyxis?" Ted asked.

"Well, both," Steven said.

Ted nodded to let Steven know they were ready. The doors opened. Pyxis came in first in a pair of blue dress robes. Then Andromeda entered. She wasn't in a wedding robe; the robe Andromeda had chosen was emerald green with a wide, square neckline that exposed her collarbones. It had long bell sleeves and lacing up the back to cinch the middle in. She took his breath away. Ted’s eyes glistened.

Andromeda approached the front on Steven’s arm and then left her escort and took Ted’s hands. He smiled at her, unable to contain his glee, while the old wizard read a story of a witch and a wizard who found each other amongst a crowd of muggles back in the days long before a Wizarding society was formed, and how they swore to walk together for eternity. It was nice, and it reminded Ted that pureblood society was a relatively recent part of history. For hundreds of years before they were all muggleborn.

Ted could tell Andromeda had taken the time to fix her makeup tonight, and tears filled her eyes and they repeated their vows and exchanged gold bands. Then they dipped a quill in ink and signed their names to a certificate. A few more words were said, and it was done. They were married. Ted was lost in thoughts and fantasies about Andromeda when the words “kiss the bride” broke through. Ted tugged her close by her hands. Andromeda placed the tips of her fingers on his cheek. They kissed, soft and sweet. Pyxis and Steven clapped.

And like a blur they were all going to the private party room of an inn (on Steven) for drinks and dinner. Ted couldn’t stop taking Andromeda’s hand throughout dinner. She caught him staring at her as she finished her salad. Andromeda drank water and Ted limited himself of one beer while Steven and Pyxis got drunk and flirted.

“You know the girl Steven was dating at Hogwarts broke up with him right before she got on the train for her seventh year,” Ted whispered to Andromeda. “Two years and then blam. Done.”

“So you’re saying he’s available,” she said, watching him tell an animated story to Pyxis across the table.

“I won’t stop until everyone is as insanely happy as I am right now.”

Andromeda kissed his cheek, and he shifted so that her lips landed just near his ear. Ted slipped his hand on her knee beneath the table and Andromeda covered it with her own. The feeling of a cool metal band on her hand was new, and he looked forward to a lifetime of their jewelry reminding him of her courage. He knew she'd had other choices. She could have gotten rid of their baby or found another man to blame. But she was here with him defying convention, and now she could pursue her dreams in true Slytherin fashion.

“I think we should make our escape,” Ted whispered, “So I can make an ass of myself trying to get you out of that robe.”

Andromeda leaned her chin on his shoulder and threaded their fingers together. She seemed to like this whispering game, and she purred in his ear, “What if I took it off for you and just let you watch?”

Steven and Pyxis has noticed the whispering and stopped their conversation. Steven put a stack of galleons on the table and got to his feet. Pyxis winked at Andromeda and gathered her purse. “I think it’s time my new friend Pyxis and I went to get sloshed in the tavern proper and let you two go home.”

~❀~

Ted and Andromeda stood up and separated, agreeing to meet in a few seconds. They each apparated, Andromeda appearing outside the apartment door. Ted opened it from inside. “You should ward the place,” Andromeda said. “Someone is going to rob you.”

“Rob us,” Ted corrected, tugging her playfully inside the door.

The door clicked shut behind her, and Ted casually locked it with his wand before tossing the wand somewhere on the sofa behind him. “Mrs. Tonks,” said, loud and clear. “I will ward whatever you want against apparating burglars in the morning.”

“Ooh not in the morning,” she said, feeling the ring on her left hand with that thumb. “I have plans for you in the morning.”

“Do you now?” he asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“My hormones are going mad right now,” she said, walking towards him. “And as it stands, I need to be thoroughly shagged at least once before bed and probably a few times more tomorrow.”

“It has been a while,” Ted said, tugging at the collar on his dress robes.

Andromeda reached behind her back and fumbled for a moment with the double-knotted bow on the robe’s lacing. It came loose without too much extra effort, and she undid the tie and pulled the bodice to relax the fit. It slouched down her shoulders. Ted watched, lower lip clenched between his teeth. She slid the wide neckline down over her shoulders, the laces pulling looser as the top slipped off her arms, over her hips, and down to the floor. She wore a skirt slip and an emerald necklace underneath. Nothing else.

“I am the luckiest son of a bitch ever born,” Ted said aloud. “Muggle? Guess what, you’re a wizard. And this vixen is your wife!”

“Shh,” Andromeda said, approaching Ted and taking the top button of his dress robes to loosen it.

Ted replaced words with action, dipping his head to kiss her neck and fervently cupping both breasts in his hands, squeezing them gently. Andromeda let her head fall back and ceased working on his buttons; only a few were open at the top, exposing his neck. He stepped forward, guiding her back until her body was pressed against the wall outside the bedroom door and his groin was pressed firmly against her own.

Andromeda kicked off her heels somewhere near them and slid a bare foot along his leg, under his robes. Ted’s hands moved down her sides, and he worked his fingers into the waistband of her slip, guiding it over her hips and letting it drop to the floor until all she wore was a pair of lace black panties and a jeweled necklace.

He kissed her again, grinding his hips against hers. Andromeda moaned into his mouth. He grabbed her backside and lifted, and Andromeda wrapped her legs around his middle. Ted lifted Andromeda away from the wall and carried her to the bedroom this way, setting her down roughly on the bed and then stepping back to survey his mate. He continued to work the buttons on his robes as he watched her squirm up the bed and settle with her head on the pillow. She reached back to pull the pins out of her hair and undo Pyxis’s handy work, an updo with long barrel curls that cascaded down her back. The curls fanned around her on the bed. Ted’s robe finally opened and dropped to the floor, leaving him in yellow and black boxer shorts, his erection like a tent pole beneath the plaid fabric.

Andromeda reached back to unclasp the necklace, but he stopped her, breaking the silence. “Leave it on,” he said. “I like the way it looks on you.” It was a detailed piece with black and green gemstones and silver lace-like wirework. When she was clothed it was a show of wealth. Naked, it became lingerie.

Ted crawled on his knees to hold himself over Andromeda. His hand placed on the bed beside her head, he raised his right hand to push her light brown hair away from her face. They looked at each other for a moment, both taking in the image to cement in memory, and then with timing as if it were planned to unheard music, both moved to continue their eager lovemaking: Andromeda pulled him down on top of her, and Ted dove in to kiss, nip, and suck at her neck.

His lips worked a trail down her collarbone and across her breasts. He stopped to fondle her breasts, flick her nipples and suck on them a bit more roughly than he had done in rendezvous before. And then he was off again, his lips tickling her stomach and then pausing teasingly on her hips as he slid her lace knickers off. Andromeda spread her legs, heat moving through her in waves as she anticipated what he was about to do.

Ted rested on his stomach and elbows. He parted the hair with his fingers and stroked gently between the lips. He didn’t need to do much coaxing to get her wet and ready for what was to come. Her sex drive was through the roof right now. She whimpered, needing more. Ted pressed his thumb to her clitoris, relieving and applying pressure in a pulse that made Andromeda close her eyes and gasp. When his tongue slid into her opening and lapped a long, slow line, she let out an audible moan. Andromeda splayed her fingers through his hair and raised her knees to flank either side of his head. Ted glanced up at her to see her expression, but her head was back and she did not see him checking in.

He continued in the same vein for a few minutes, increasing speed gradually until she was gasping for breath and arching her back. At last when she cried out and relaxed against the sheets, he slowed and stopped and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Ted settled next to Andromeda on the bed, propped up on his side with his head leaning on his hand, and slowly gripped himself through his boxers to keep him ready while she recovered for round two.

Andromeda pressed a gentle kiss to his lips and turned on her side to face him. She wrapped a leg around his hip and then followed it, swinging her body around until he was on his back and she was straddling him. She grabbed him through his boxers. The echoes of that first, little, shallow orgasm from his previous attentions had faded and she needed more.

Ted propped himself up on his elbows. She lifted the elastic of his boxer shorts and freed his length from the confines of the loose fabric. Ted raised his hips so she could slide the boxers over his backside, and he kicked them to the foot of the bed as Andromeda settled back on his thighs, her knees on either side of him. Ted laid back and beckoned her with a crooked finger. She leaned forward and kissed him, and his erection twitched against her leg as if it had its own mind.

She reached between them and encircled the head of his penis with her thumb and index finger. She carefully placed the head at her entrance and sat back, feeling her wet and hungry body envelop him. He held her hips, his legs out straight, and waited until he was all the way in before giving her hips a squeeze to ask her to stay put for a minute. It had been weeks since they had been together, and they hadn’t been without a condom since June. Everything was much softer, warmer, more intimate.

“Okay,” he finally said, nodding. Andromeda rose up on her knees and slid back down slowly. She went up and down again, this time shifting the angle. Each time she repeated the motion, she did it a bit differently until she found the right spot, and then she gripped the blankets around him and settled into a steady rhythm. Ted lifted his hips to meet her. From this position she guaranteed the right placement every time. He watched her as she slid along his length, eyes closed, large curls falling over her shoulders and hanging in front of her breasts. The moved in tandem with the rocking of her body.

Faster, she sped up, her fingers curling into the blankets, his knuckles white as he gripped her hips. The bed creaked beneath them. Without realizing it, she had begun to emit low moans. She was almost there. And then the wave crashed over her, sending jolts through her body. She cried out and tensed. Ted growled, his back raised off the bed as he thrust wildly up into her, carrying her through the orgasm and finally achieving his own. He collapsed on the bed. Andromeda stilled, her face buried in his shoulder, her chest balmy with sweat.

After a moment she felt his warm hands stroking her back. Carefully she rose up and let him slip from between her legs. She rolled onto the bed next to him, looking up at the ceiling as the cool air of the room kissed her naked skin.

“I’m not saying we should ever go that long without shagging but...” Ted laughed.

“What even was that?” Andromeda asked, turning on her side and scooting close for warmth.

“That was what we have to look forward to,” Ted said. “And,” he added, smirking. “Your breasts are getting bigger.”

“Are they?” she asked with a matching grin.

“They’re a solid handful now.”

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” she said.

“I plan to,” he replied before sitting up and offering her a hand. “Let’s get these sheets pulled back so we can keep warm.”

Andromeda let Ted pull her up and into his arms. Tomorrow would be their day. Sunday was another story, but for now she pushed the dark thoughts out of her mind and decided to be present in the moment with him.


	18. The Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda tells her parents (and Bellatrix) the truth.

**Chapter Eighteen:**   
**The Confession**

They spent the day around the flat Saturday making love, eating takeout, and talking. It was the most time they had ever spent together uninterrupted, and Andromeda seemed happy and at home. In the evening Ted showed her a television broadcast, which absolutely floored Andromeda (“Does someone paint them every night? How do they look so real?”) and explained the telephone.

That night Ted dreamed that he and Andromeda were looking for a place to make love, but every time they found privacy, they were interrupted and had to move. Each time they got down to it, someone would find them, and his sense of safety and warmth was snatched away, leaving him more hungry, more frustrated, and more lonely. He felt like he was always searching for another opportunity to be with her.

When he woke, they were naked in bed, his arms wrapped around her, pulling her close to his chest. They were nestled in a cocoon of sheets and blankets, and Ted realized he was hard with morning arousal, pressed against her. His hips were firmly against her backside, his length resting just along the underside of her bum, the head of his shaft just inches from her entrance.

Andromeda stroked his arm with her fingertips. He was still foggy, only just becoming aware of his own body, but she was waiting for him, fully awake. Soon she was arching her back, pressing her rear into him. Ted let out a little confused moan and shifted. She continued stroking his hand and rubbed her foot along his calf. He movements shook the fog from his brain, and when his hands found her breasts, she chuckled a little.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Same to you.” Her voice was low and relaxed. She arched back into him again, letting him know she was aware of his condition. He breathed hot air on the back of her neck. One hand roamed down her stomach and held her hip in place as he thrust forward and up. She had woken aroused and relaxed, so the head of his penis slid into her naturally. Ted began to move very slowly, his length sliding in and out of her in tortuously slow motions. The hand he’d used to brace her hip came to nest in the tangle of dark hair between her legs, and he found her most sensitive spot to rub in equally slow circles.

Her hair fell over her face as she pushed her feet back between his legs and behind him, changing the angle of her hips, allowing him to go deeper yet. The hand still on her breast squeezed her left side. She hissed, placing her hands on top of his to communicate discomfort. Tenderness had begun already. He withdrew his hand, muttering an apology, and used the offending hand to grip her shoulder instead as his pace steadily sped up.

To get the right leverage, Ted had moved down lower than her on the bed, and his mouth pressed into her shoulder blade, muffling his groans as he thrust. The bed shook, scraping the wall in a steady beat, as they reached completion. He came seconds ahead of her, but powered through the end until she was gasping and moaning his name.

They stayed in bed together for half an hour after talking and roaming each other's bodies with their hands. This was what he'd wanted for months: to wake up with her in his arms. It was everything he'd hoped. Finally Ted’s stomach growled loudly, and he reluctantly got up to fry a few eggs in his boxers.

Andromeda hadn't brought many clothes at all, so he left her to pick through his dresser. When she made her way out into the kitchen to find Ted serving breakfast, he stopped and looked at her like a wolf might look at a steak. “Now that's not fair. I need to keep up my strength.” She was wearing a pair of his blue and green plaid boxers and a football shirt. He liked the way his clothes looked on her. The shirt slouched off her shoulder a bit.

"But, counterpoint," she said. "What if we just completely destroyed each other and never left this flat?"

He laughed and moaned at the same time. He was a bit surprised she had any drive left since they'd shagged five times since Friday night, but he felt the same way. With the brief exception of a nausea spell mid-morning on Saturday, it seemed like her body demanded nothing but sex. And Ted was a nineteen-year-old male. He didn't need pregnancy hormones to explain his lust away.

"You make an excellent argument, Mrs. Tonks."

Andromeda sighed. She pulled the shoulder of the t-shirt up. “But I have to make it back by eleven,” she reminded him. Her parents were due in by noon, but she had to dress in normal robes and be ready in case they came early. They had been over the game plan. Ted wished he could go with her, but she insisted on facing them alone.

The clock on the wall said ten. If she wanted to shower before she left, there was no time for getting distracted. Ted brought her eggs to the table. She picked up a fork and sat behind her plate.

They ate quietly. Andromeda picked slowly at her food, and Ted wondered what was going on inside that brilliant mind. When their plates were cleared, she drank a glass of juice and set it in the sink. Ted caught her by the kitchen counter and pulled her into a hug.

“Are you scared?” he asked.

“Of course.”

“Are you having second thoughts?”

Andromeda paused to search her feelings and shook her head. “No. This is right. This is where I should be.”

“Good,” Ted said, pulling back and looking at her face. Her hair was a bit of a mess, but Ted liked it. After all, it had gotten that way because she'd been doing very naughty things to him. And most importantly of all, she looked happy.

“Besides,” she said. “Can't take it back now. We consummated the hell out of it.”

“That we did,” he said, laughing.

But the jokes didn't take away the ball of ice growing in his stomach. He wouldn't be able to really relax until she had torn off the bandaid, told her parents, and come safely home to him. His family was only a little religious and Ted had found his faith lapsing after seven years in the wizarding world, but in that moment, as Andromeda went to throw on her dirty clothes from Friday night before the wedding so she could go home, Ted took a moment to pray.

~❀~

Andromeda apparated home at exactly eleven in the morning and went into the house. When she came out of the shower, Bellatrix was sitting in her room. She hadn't noticed the missing items (a few books, the jewelry box, a couple small possessions, and three outfits) and she was reading a Witch Weekly Andromeda had kept because Pyxis had worked on it. There went all plans of packing more.

“Thought I'd come by and greet our parents.”

“That's nice of you.”

“I stopped by yesterday. Where were you?”

Bellatrix felt her heart us in her chest. Could she lie to Bellatrix now and tell her the truth in an hour? How would that go over as a sign of good faith? “Pyxis and I got together Friday night,” technically true, “and then I stayed in London all day Saturday.”

“How is she?” Bellatrix asked. “She's the one at the magazine?” she asked, holding up a spread on last month’s dress robe looks.

“I think she met a guy. I don't know if it's anything yet, but he was a prefect at Hogwarts.” She wondered how long Pyxis and Steven had stayed out Friday night. She would have to catch up with her friend.

“Pureblooded?” she asked. Why was that all they cared about?

“Not from of the great lines but his parents are a witch and a wizard.”

Bellatrix shrugged. “She does what she can with what she's given.”

Andromeda dressed quickly so Bellatrix wouldn't try to help her and notice the missing jewelry. This whole conversation was going to be a lot more volatile with Bella here.

She went downstairs and called into the kitchen for the elf to prepare lunch. People were more civil over food, weren't they? Bellatrix was close behind her, and so Andromeda decided to make civil conversation to build good will. “How is a Rabastan?”

“Bored. Restless. He's taken to betting on Quidditch. He doesn't go to the matches, just sits with the wireless flipping between games. He's made more money than he's lost so I suppose I can't complain, but I find the sport rather…”

“It's rather patched together,” Andromeda said. “I like the chasers and the keeper, but you add the flying death balls—“

“See that's the only part I like.”

“—and the snitch just makes no sense and destroys the balance of the game.” Andromeda thought the story behind the snitch was a perfect embodiment of her current situation: something that wasn't originally in the game had become tradition that made no sense, hurt the game, and yet people were obsessed with it. She had explained the history to Ted yesterday and he had insisted that if she liked the Quaffle parts, she would like football. Maybe Andromeda would give that a shot.

Bellatrix and Andromeda spent the next twenty minutes hating Quidditch together. Andromeda was careful to keep her left hand down and not gesture with it. Then the front door opened and Cygnus and Druella Black stepped through, trunks levitating behind them. Andromeda’s stomach twisted.

Everyone hugged, and the elf took the trunks upstairs. Cygnus had a bag with presents from Spain that he brought into the dining room where brunch was set. Andromeda skipped over the mimosas and poured sparkling water from a carafe. She didn't want to spring her news on them right away, so she took a biscuit and spread butter on it to quietly nibble while Cygnus told them all about the latest battle in the Spanish ministry over some issue of removing muggle repelling charms from an unused wizarding landmark.

“Of course there's a poltergeist there they want to try to exorcise. I say let him keep the ruin, renew the charm, and let it be. But nosy muggles who enjoy poking around where they aren't wanted have begun to talk about the area. So now they have to reevaluate it's worth to wizards.”

Druella set her drink down and dove into their bag of goodies. She set a jewelry box on the table and made a comment about owling it to Narcissa at school. Next she handed a box to Bellatrix and then another to Andromeda.

Andromeda waited while Bella opened her box. Inside was a book with a red ribbon tied around the cover and a tag. Bellatrix read the tag and began to smirk.

“What is it?” Andromeda asked.

“It's cursed so that anyone who reads it cannot stop. They'll read it cover to cover over and over again until it is pulled from their hands.”

“Unless they don't speak Spanish,” Cygnus added.

“Well that sounds illegal,” Andromeda said.

“Yes, don't advertise that you have it, dear,” Druella said. Andromeda could picture Bellatrix donating it to a second hand shop in some muggle town just for laughs.

Andromeda opened her box next. It was a small crystal vial with a wide, curved body and a ruby-capped cork. Druella explained it. “Whatever potion you put inside will remain as fresh as the day you brewed it. Good for things that take a while to make but have to be used right away.”

It was a thoughtful gift, as Andromeda had her N.E.W.T. in potions. It's wasn't cursed or illegal. Andromeda thanked her mother and tucked the bottle in the pocket of her robes. It's flask-like shape settled in there nicely.

Cygnus had presents for his nephews too, and he talked about the prank Exploding Snap deck he bought for Sirius that would go off when someone played a winning hand. Andromeda thought Sirius would like that.

And then the topic switched the parties and friends. They knew kindred spirits around Europe, families obsessed with blood purity, and Cygnus brought up his friend Gomez, whose son was a seventh year at his school and who was from one of the Great pureblooded lines of Spain.

“Esteban is first in his year and wants to invest in developing medicinal potions. Gomez and I rather thought you should meet, Andromeda.”

And here was the moment where she had to stop pretending everything was normal. She took a deep breath. “Actually, I have something we need to discuss.”

“Oh?” Druella sipped her mimosa.

“I've met someone.”

“Have you?” Bellatrix said, and Andromeda sincerely wished she wasn't here.

“A while ago.” Another deep breath. “I've fallen in love with a schoolmate. We’ve married, and I'm expecting his child.”

Stunned silence. And then Bellatrix starting laughing. It was deeply unsettling.

“Oh Andromeda dear,” she said through her laughter. “You've never been one for practical jokes.”

“His name is Ted,” Andromeda went on.

“Ted?” Her father’s ashen face was hard to read. He was clearly shocked, but was he angry? Confused?

“What, is he a Weasley?” Druella asked.

“He’s muggleborn.”

Bellatrix stopped laughing.

“You're serious,” Druella said.

“You’re pregnant?!” Cygnus suddenly bellowed, blood rushing to his face.

This was more like she expected. She scooted back in her chair a little.

“We didn't mean for it to happen, but I love him. And I'm happy. And I know it wasn't—”

The room seemed to flip and the air went out of Andromeda’s chest. It took a moment for her to become oriented in the room again. Her whole family was standing. Bellatrix had her wand drawn, and Andromeda was on the floor, her chair knocked back. She coughed and tried to stand up.

“Bella,” her father warned.

“We can fix this,” Druella said, her voice high with panic. “If anyone who matters knew, we’d have known.”

Andromeda rose to her feet, keeping her stance low and backing away from Bellatrix, towards the wall. She gasped to catch her breath as her father began to pace.

“How far along are you?” Cygnus asked.

“Nearly ten weeks.”

“It's too late to convince your brother-in-law it’s his,” Cygnus said. “And we can't corrupt the line.”

Andromeda kept her eyes on Bellatrix, who looked all too eager to hex her again.

“I know a healer who could end the whole thing quietly,” Druella said.

Andromeda whipped around to look at her mother. “No!” The word flew out of her mouth before she was aware of it.

“Excuse me?” her father bellowed.

“You're not hurting our baby. I'm married. By wizard law. Two witnesses, the whole thing. This is what I want.”

“What you want?” Bellatrix asked. She stepped closer. Andromeda moved her hand to her side where her wand was tucked in her pocket.

“I've always done everything that was expected. I only made friends with purebloods. I gave up a career. I played nice at parties and was even going to marry Rabastan, who is a psychopath, if he hadn't slept around. But I hated my life. I was miserable. And I can't do it anymore.”

“You ungrateful brat,” Cygnus said. “I gave you everything.”

“I don't want to be given everything. I don't want to be a doll in your house with no purpose beyond the line. I want to do something with my life, and Ted wants me to have that.”

Andromeda saw Bella’s arm go up in her peripheral vision. She drew her wand and threw it up quickly, shouting, “Protego!” The hex Bellatrix tried to cast bounced off the invisible barrier with a yellow flash and a loud hiss. Andromeda dodged to her left, but nobody else in the room had moved to stop Bellatrix from hurting her.

Andromeda ran to the door.

“Stop her!” Druella yelled. Andromeda didn't know what would happen next. Would they force her to end her pregnancy? Would they let Bellatrix kill her? Not bringing Ted was the right move; he would have tried to protect Andromeda and they might have killed him straight away. She had rarely seen her father this angry. Perhaps never. Andromeda ran to the front door and hurried to unlock it. A hex hit the door above her and blasted off a piece of trim. She got it open and cast a leg-locked jinx behind her, just to slow her sister down as she ran down the stone steps, past the fountain, towards the line where she could safely apparate. She made it just over the threshold from the crushed stone path to the grass when a spell hit her from behind and knocked her over. She tried to get up, but another spell slash her robes and cut a gash across her forehead, and Andromeda cried out and covered the wound. Cygnus and a Druella stood on the stairs just watching as Bellatrix marched across the path, wand leveled.

“Crucio!” she shouted. Pain like she had never imagined flooded Andromeda for an instant, and she found herself on the ground, gasping for air as it subsided. Bellatrix stopped in front of her, wand still aimed. “Eventually your body will let go of the little mudblood bastard if it thinks you're dying.”

“Bella, please,” Andromeda gasped.

“Crucio.” White hot pain shot through her again. Her body was rigid with pain and her lungs were unable to move enough air to cry out. Her vision started to darken but it stopped. The curse would not let her lose consciousness. It carried on for a few seconds longer this time, and when it stopped it took a few seconds for Andromeda to realize her sister was talking again.

“—surrender and let mother take care of this.”

Andromeda was sweating, and she felt weak. Pain echoed in her body. She would have said anything to stop it from happening again. She couldn't speak, so she nodded.

“Good. Now you're seeing sense.”

Bellatrix waited while the haze around Andromeda’s vision cleared and she started to sit up. She looked impatient, like Andromeda was wasting her day.

“Are you coming or should I do it again.”

“Don't,” Andromeda pleaded. Blood from her forehead was dripping into her eye.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes and flicked her wand. An invisible force lifted Andromeda under her arms and set her on her feet. She wobbled but managed to stay up. Her mind started to move at a normal speed. She couldn't let Bellatrix take her into the house. This was her only chance.

“I'll go with you,” Andromeda lied. “I'm sorry.”

“That's a girl,” Bellatrix said, and she lowered her wand. Andromeda took a deep breath, prayed she didn't splinch herself, and apparated.


	19. The Hideout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted and Andromeda find safety.

**Chapter Nineteen:**  
**The Hideout**

Andromeda appeared with a sudden crack. Ted had been sitting on the sofa, his hands twisting together, waiting for quite some time. He was just thinking of getting up and turning on the TV for distraction when the loud bang came, and suddenly his wife was on the living room floor. There was a lot of blood.

"'Dromeda!" he shouted, rushing towards her. There was blood on her face and left foot looked wrong. It was backwards and the skin was open, blood pouring out. She was splinched, but as far as he could tell it was just the one leg.

"Ted," she managed to gasp before her eyes rolled back and she went unconscious.

Ted grabbed his wand and cast a patronus, which was difficult given his panic. He had to push out the fear and let the memory of Friday night fill him. The silvery form took off to deliver a message to Steven and then to Pyxis. Ted, who had been trained in muggle first aid as a boy, took off his shirt and started ripping it to bandage her leg. When it was wrapped tight, he took the last strip of fabric and held it to her head.

There was a little pop outside and then Steven's voice. "Ted?"

"It's unlocked!" he said.

There was another pop before the door opened. Pyxis followed Steven inside. She pushed Steven out of the way and rushed to Andromeda's side. "What happened?" she asked.

"She told them," Ted said.

Pyxis cursed loudly. "We have to get out of here."

"What?" Ted asked. His adrenaline was altering his senses, causing the world around him to fall back into space as he focused on keeping pressure on Andromeda's head wound. None of this felt real. It felt like a vivid, bizarre nightmare.

"If her parents did this to her... if they know your name..." Pyxis shook Ted's shoulder. "We have to go."

"She needs a healer," Ted said. But Pyxis was right. They believed her sister and brother-in-law were Death Eaters. Her current state all but confirmed that theory for Ted. If they could do this to their own family, what would they do to the two of them?

"I'll get a taxi. You get a shirt on and make sure you have your wand," Pyxis said.

"What's the plan? Mungo's?"

Pyxis shook her head. "The Blacks are well connected."

"I know a healer. I'll send him a message," Steven said.

Pyxis agreed. "We'll get Andromeda some place safe and meet him there."

"But how?" Ted asked. "She's covered in blood. We can't bring her in a taxi."

"Time to put your skills to use, Ted," Pyxis said, opening the front door. "The driver's going to have to have some gaps in his memory." And then she went to wave down a cab.

~❀~

Andromeda woke in a bed that wasn't her own and it wasn't Ted’s. He was in a chair next to her, his head tipped back, snoring loudly. It was dark. Were they at St. Mungo’s? It didn't seem right. The room wasn't right.

“Ted?” she asked.

He shot up straight and blinked a few times. “Oh thank you, Jesus, you're alright.”

“Where are we?”

The door opened and Pyxis looked in. The hall beyond was filled with posters in frames, and Andromeda knew this definitely wasn't Mungo’s.

“Hey,” she said. “You're up.”

“Where are we?” Andromeda asked. Her mind went back to the lawn and Bellatrix’s arrogant, almost pleased expression.

“Ted sent me a patronus. Wanted help getting you to the hospital. But I thought about all your family contacts and if they…”

“We decided we didn't want them to know where you were,” Ted said. “What happened?”

Andromeda put her hand on her stomach. Ted covered her hand with his own. “It's alright. Steven had the team doctor— he's halfblood— come over. She's fine.”

“She?” Andromeda wondered if she had heard that right.

“We’re having a little girl.” Ted said with a slow, sad smile.

“Can we name her Nymphadora?” She thought back to their Mandrakes and Ted’s dissaproval of the name.

He squeezed her hand. “You can name her whatever you want so long as you're both safe.”

Pyxis stepped out and came back with Steven. Was this his guest room? Andromeda touched her forehead, but the gash was healed.

“Bellatrix attacked me,” she said. “Mother and Father were trying to talk about getting rid of the baby, covering everything up, and when I told them no, Bellatrix attacked me.”

“Hence why we thought better of the hospital,” Pyxis said. “You were bleeding and we didn't know why you wouldn't wake up.”

“She…” she hesitated, making sure what she was about to say was what had really happened before she leveled such an accusation. “She used the cruciatus curse on me.”

“What?!” Ted sprang up on his feet, ready for action. “We need to call the aurors, send someone—”

“Ted,” she said.

“—that fucking psycho should be in Azkaban with—”

“Ted!”

He stopped and looked down at her.

“It's my word against three. They know half the Wizengamot. She’ll get away with it, and then she’ll have more reason to come after us.” Andromeda was afraid that if they got Bellatrix put away, someone in their family, probably the Lestrange brothers, would come after Ted. And they wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

“She shouldn't get away with that,” he argued.

“I got away. Let that be enough. They don’t control me anymore.” Andromeda had told her family that she was miserable before, but all they could do was plot how to get her right back to where she was before. That wasn't love. This was love: Ted and their best friends keeping her safe.

“Are you hungry?” Steven asked.

“Starved,” Andromeda said.

“You like pickles and cheddar?” Steven was dressed casually in denim trousers and a t-shirt. Pyxis stood close to him, and Andromeda read a sense of intimacy between them. The women would need to talk later.

“I like those two things separately. Never had them together.”

“He's about to change your life,” Pyxis said, and they left Andromeda and Ted alone.

Andromeda looked at Ted. His shoulders sagged. He looked helpless and afraid. She knew he wanted to do something to fight back, but she didn't want to anger her family any more than she already had. “Let it to,” she said. “I'm safe. Our baby is safe. They can't hurt me anymore.”

“We should move flats,” Ted said. “Ward the new place from apparating. Only tell people we trust where we live.”

Andromeda nodded. They couldn't be too safe. She remembered a discussion about a fidelius charm from Defense Against the Dark Arts and wondered what that took to set up. “We can get a kneazle to warn us if anyone is skulking around.”

Ted sat on the edge of the bed and reached over to touch her face. Andromeda closed her eyes, still very tired. “I should have been there.”

“No,” she said, opening her eyes. “She would have murdered you. Seriously, literally, she would have killed you. You should have seen her. No remorse. She's a monster. And they just let her do whatever she wanted. There was no attempt to reign her in.”

Andromeda looked at the dresser to the left of her bed. Andromeda's wand was set out, as was the little crystal potion bottle that must have been in her pocket when she apparated. She felt anger rise in her and she snapped, “Sell that.”

“What?”

“The bottle.” She hated it suddenly. It was proof that her parents only cared about things and appearances. They had given her a lovely, expensive gift and then minutes later let her sister torture her on the lawn. She wasn't angry enough to taunt the bull by publishing a marriage announcement or sending them a baby picture, but she did want to purge mementos out of spite. “Sell it. Sell every piece of jewelry. We’ll put it all in Nymphadora’s Hogwarts fund. I never want to see it again.”

Ted nodded. “I'll ask Pyxis to do that.”

Steven came back in the room with a plate and a folded letter. Ted took the letter and frowned. “You sure you want to read this?”

Andromeda looked at the front and recognized Sirius’s handwriting. She hesitated and nodded. He was keeping their secret, right? He already knew about Ted. Surely he'd be reasonable.

Ted opened the letter and read it while she ate.

> Dear Andy,
> 
> Narcissa got a letter at breakfast this morning that made her run from the Great Hall sobbing. So naturally I followed her, and she showed me what it said and wow, your mother is livid. I understand you've gotten knocked-up by the pretty muggleborn and gotten married. So congrats, I suppose. You're kind of my hero, but also we won't get to see each other much for a while because mum sent me a letter right after that simply said, “She's not a Black anymore and you are not to correspond with her,” which probably means you've been blasted off the family tree. Like I said, my hero. Anyway, I've got Hogwarts to get through so I'll owl if I'm going to sneak into Hogsmeade and we can meet up, but from now on sign your letters to me from Cetus as you've become the family bogeyman.
> 
> Your most fervent admirer,
> 
> Sirius A. Black

Andromeda laughed and then cried. What did he mean sneak into Hogsmeade? Did he do that regularly? How? She would have to remember to send him her list of snogging spots and secret passages when she felt better.

“Someone in your family has a soul,” Ted said, folding the letter.

“I hope they don’t suck it out of him,” she said. And she suddenly felt very tired. “I need to sleep.”

Ted nodded. “Sleep. I’ll handle everything.”

Andromeda settled back against the pillows. Her body felt very heavy. At least the baby was safe. Nymphadora. They would safe. Her family couldn't hurt her now.


	20. The Holidays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda and Ted recover from their ordeal.

**Chapter Twenty:**   
**The Holidays**

Ted and Andromeda stayed with Steven for a few days, then Ted went to his flat with Steven, Amos, and Steven’s teammates to get their belongings and move them. Ted rented a new place from a muggle landlord in a neighborhood closer to the periphery of London that cost the same but had an extra room for the baby, and with his mates they warded the place. They could get a house when Andromeda finished healer training, but that would be at least three years as she couldn't start in January and then leave five months later to have her baby.

Pyxis and Andromeda went around over the next few weeks selling off Andromeda’s jewelry collection. After nineteen years at home she was able to sell what she had for over seven thousand galleons; the Blacks never bought costume jewelry, not even for a toddler. Ted was glad for this little ridiculous display of wealth, as it would keep them comfortable until Andromeda could get her career started.

“You could buy a cottage somewhere outside of a London with this,” Pyxis said as they returned from their trip to the Tonks Gringotts vault. It had taken weeks to find buyers with cash on hand— everything was appraised at separate jewelers and then sold to the few wizard shops that weren't worried about angering her parents— and now it was all gone. Ted liked the idea of living in a little cottage with her. He just hoped she wouldn't resent not living in some place as ostentatious as the Black manor.

Andromeda and Pyxis went off while Ted was at work and bought things they'd need for the baby’s room and got new robes and undergarments for Andromeda. Later with Ted they went shopping again and bought some items of muggle clothing so Andromeda could fit in at barbecues and Christmas parties with his coworkers. They also bought books about muggles and a few popular muggle novels for her to read. She had one job until the baby came— to learn to adapt to her new life. Ted also noticed that she kept their flat spotless, and he made sure to compliment her housekeeping often so that she would know she was appreciated.

By the time the office Christmas party came around, Andromeda was much more comfortable talking to his coworkers. She was showing now, but only in form-fitting clothing, and the morning of the party she had felt the first flutter of Nymphadora moving about and woken Ted to tell him.

Ted was making his rounds, but he tried not to leave Andromeda alone too long. He still remembered the disastrous office party that had broken them up before the wedding. Just because she'd now read _A Christmas Carol, Pride and Prejudice_, and _Romeo and Juliet, _didn't mean he could leave her without a safety net.

“You know it's a girl already?” Mary was saying to Andromeda as Ted approached with a glass of water for her wife. She looked puzzled.

Ted came up beside Andromeda, placing a gentle hand on her lower back, and saved her. Healers could tell the sex of the baby way before muggle doctors could. “Intuition,” Ted said. “I've warned her not to go overboard with pink yet.”

After the party they slid into a cab and Ted pulled her close. "You okay?" he asked. "I know those are hard for you."

Andromeda laced her fingers in his and nodded. "It was hard, but I think I pulled it off this time," she said.

Ted kissed the top of her head. "I'm proud of you, learning a new world."

"You did it," she said.

"And if I can do it, it must be easy for head girl," he said before nipping at her ear. "How's the avocado?" he asked, referring to the size of their developing baby.

"Quiet," Andromeda said. She closed her eyes and settled against him.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she replied. Her voice was getting quieter. She was asleep by the time the taxi made it to their flat.

~❀~

The morning after the office Christmas party, Andromeda received an owl asking her to meet Sirius in Hogsmeade that afternoon. The visit was short and in a secluded area where someone wouldn't notice a thirteen-year-old boy on a non-Hogsmeade weekend. Sirius gave her a simple locket with green and yellow gemstones set into warm gold because she had told him in a letter about selling all of her jewelry.

When they hugged goodbye he lingered for a second and then whispered his own confession in her ear. “I think I like boys,” he said, and when she looked at him, he blushed.

“Really?” It didn't seem like the kind of prank Sirius would play, and he nodded. He had kept her secret for months, and Andromeda wondered if it was because he was keeping his own. She thought about it for a second before deciding that there wasn't much difference between her falling in love with a muggleborn and him falling in love with a boy, except he would never get pregnant. With a few scraggly black hairs on his chin, he was starting to look like a teenager, old enough to know how he felt.

“Well, I'm not going to tell your mother,” she said. "That's for sure.”

It wasn't quite approval but not a condemnation either. Andromeda’s instinct told her that though it seemed strange to her, her parents had been so very wrong about a lot of things, so maybe there was room for her mind to shift on this too. And she loved Sirius. He was the only family left now. He deserved happiness. It meant a lot that her little cousin trusted her so much.

“She would probably hex you before you could say a word,” he said. “I have to get back. My friends are having a party in the common room before we go home tomorrow.”

Sirius hugged her again and then headed back towards the village with a borrowed invisibility cloak that was far finer than anything she'd ever seen.

~❀~

On Christmas Eve, they went to stay with Ted's parents. Andromeda had met David and Annie Tonks in mid-November. They were absolutely normal, boring muggles with no dark artifact collections or heirloom manors. David drank at a pub and watched football matches with his mates from work (he was an accountant) and Mary gardened and knitted and volunteered walking dogs at an animal shelter. They had a yellow Labrador retriever named Dodger. Once upon a time Ted had wished that his parents were more exciting people, but since learning the true nature of his in-laws, he had come to appreciate them more.

After dinner and presents they went to meet some of Ted’s school friends at a pub. Andromeda ordered a ginger beer while Ted got a proper pint.

Ted’s friends were Sam, Lee, and Lee’s girlfriend Minnie. Ted and Andromeda were already sitting when Lee and Minnie came in, Sam behind them as a third wheel. “Ted!” Lee shouted, waving.

The muggles crossed the pub. Lee pulled Ted into a hug. “There you are you handsome, fertile bastard,” he said. Lee was very tall and handsome with fair skin and black hair. His cheeks were red and Andromeda wondered if he has already been drinking elsewhere.

“Hi,” Minnie said, offering a hand to Andromeda. “I’m Minnie.” She was curvy with round cheeks and curly blond hair.

“Andy,” Andromeda said. She and Ted had talked on the car ride over about presenting herself to strange muggles with this much more common nickname. Ted would never have thought to ask her to, but she insisted on it. Ted rather liked her archaic name. It suited her.

“Short for Andrea?” Minnie asked.

“Sure.”

Sam, who had medium skin, thick dark eyebrows hidden behind equally thick spectacles, and a shaved head, introduced himself as “Sami or Sam” and went to get Lee and Minnie drinks from the bar. They slid into the booth together, Ted and Andromeda on one side and Lee and Minnie on the other. When Sam showed up with three beers, he pulled up a chair to the end.

“How’s the paper?” Sam asked.

“Good,” Ted said, “But I’d really like to get into broadcast.”

“Yeah? So we can see you on the BBC?”

“Some day,” he said. “Whatever feeds the family.”

They caught up as best they could with Ted and Andromeda telling convenient half-truths and sometimes outright lies. Ted found it was easier to be around muggle friends if he let them take the lead, and Lee entertained for most of the night. But it was Sam that Andromeda seemed to click with. He was quiet and thoughtful and taught history to kids. When he’d had a few drinks he gave an impromptu lecture on the history of English imperialism. It was excellent and entertaining, and Andromeda was rapt with attention.

Ted sipped his beer and watched Andromeda's face as Sam talked about the American Revolution, getting side-tracked by a fun fact about the Mad King George. She was like a sponge, soaking it all up, and Ted loved that about her. Even when she'd been staring down the barrel as a life as Rabastan's trophy wife, she'd taken learning seriously. But now she was here with Ted, free. It suited her.

~❀~

After the pub, Andromeda and Ted went back to stay with his parents. Mary and David Tonks were asleep, so they came in quietly and made their way to the guest room, which was converted from Ted’s old room.

Ted locked the door and started to change into pajamas while Andromeda removed her makeup in the mirror with her wand. “Sami sure knows a lot about Muggle history,” she said.

“He does.”

“Doesn’t it ever drive you mad that you can’t discuss Wizard history with him?” she asked.

Ted shrugged, taking off his button-up shirt. “A little. But I know enough Muggle history to get by.” He pulled his undershirt off. “Do you like my friends?”

“They’re all nice people. You have a lot of friends.”

“Hufflepuff,” he said with a smirk.

“Is it weird that I only had Pyxis and Narcissa?”

“You’re just not as outgoing. It’s not weird,” he said, unbuttoning his trousers and kicking off his shoes.

“Lee seems like a strange match for Minnie. She’s so warm and nurturing and he seems... like he would date more wild girls. He’s handsome and confident but also a little bit of trouble.”

“He did date a lot of wild women. Summer before our sixth year he dated a girl who decided he was cheating and smashed his brand new car’s windows.”

“Was he cheating?”

Ted frowned. “Don’t think so. Minnie doesn’t tolerate his shit or get too territorial. She’s really a moderating influence.”

Andromeda took her earrings out— a pair of plain silver balls she’d bought for herself— and set them on the dresser. She pulled her blouse up over her head, and when the shirt was off she noticed that Ted had ceased everything to watch her.

“Looking for a show?” she asked, standing in her skirt and bra, her stomach popping out over her waistband.

Ted, dressed in socks and boxers, sat on the bed. “Yes please.”

She laughed. “I am not doing a strip tease like this.”

“Like what?” He scooted up against the headboard.

“Seventeen weeks pregnant,” she said. “It’s not very sexy.”

“Rubbish,” Ted said. “I can’t think of anything sexier. That there is visible proof you let me put my penis inside of you.”

Andromeda burst out laughing. “Charming.”

“Thank you.”

She crossed and stood by the bed. “I like the participatory event much better,” she said. Ted scooted to the edge of the bed, dangling his legs off. She stepped between his knees and brushed her thumb across his stubbly chin. “Help a girl out.”

Ted placed his palm on her belly. He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, one that was slow and sweet and sucked all of the detached playfulness out of the room. She wrapped her arms around his neck and broke the kiss, keeping her forehead pressed to his. “I love you,” she said.

“I love you too,” he replied.

“I don’t think you could ever understand how much you mean to me,” she said. “I was lost before you. You gave me a reason to wake up, to live.”

“‘Dromeda,” Ted said, stroking her cheek. “You have no idea how much you inspire me.”

“If I wasn’t here right now you’d still have an amazing job and you’d probably have some other beautiful girlfriend who made you very happy.”

“Bollocks,” he said. “I sought out this job because of our conversation that day on the wall. Because I wasn’t sure it was realistic to hope for, and then I told you and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I told you my secret distant ambition because I wanted you to know I had ambitions. And I reached out and made it true because I didn’t want to let what I wanted get away like you were.”

She frowned. “So I inspired you to not be like me.”

“Not at all. Writing a letter to ask about job openings took one-one thousandth of the courage it took to tell your parents you weren’t going to follow their life plan. I get that now. Your sister used an unforgivable curse on you. I didn't go home right away after Hogsmeade and do it. I was too scared. I wrote that letter months later in the spring when we were sneaking around Hogwarts. You doing even that, not knowing what the future was, took guts. _That's_ what really inspired me. You were seizing the moment while you had it. You took a chance to be happy, even if only for just right then. That’s what inspired me.”

Andromeda closed the space between their bodies and rested her head on his shoulder. He held her for a long time, rubbing circles on her back. He finally said, “Let’s just agree we’re both better off today than we were before?”

She stepped away and nodded. “Deal.”

“Turn around and I’ll help you,” he said. She obeyed and he unclasped her bra and unzipped her skirt for her. She got boxers and a t-shirt from their trunk and slid them on. When Ted set his wand on the nightstand and climbed into bed, and she crawled in to snuggle up with him.

“Knox,” she said, and the lightbulb flickered out.

“Er, you’re going to need to fix that before we leave or my parents won’t be able to use the light,” Ted said in the dark.

“Oops,” Andromeda said, reversing it with a Lumos. She used the wand to flick the switch instead.


	21. Rabastan Lestrange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda runs into her former fiance.

**Chapter Twenty-One:**   
**Rabastan Lestrange**   
  


After the initial horror of Andromeda's confession and Bellatrix's assault, the Black side of the family had gone quiet. Silent. The suddenness with which they had switched from unfettered violence to absolute restraint was unsettling. Some days Ted thought nothing about it, but when his mind happened to drift to his in-laws and wondering what they were up to, it made it very hard to sleep. Perhaps they knew they had gotten away with the unforgivable and that it was best to let Andromeda go and not test their luck. But what if they were planning something? Those thoughts kept Ted up at night.

But as the silence stretched on, Ted began to relax. They didn't hear from her parents or sisters all through the holidays, and then January came and went without incident too. By mid-February, Ted had convinced himself that blasting Andromeda off the family tree had come with a promise to pretend she had never existed, and given the circumstances Ted now thought that was the best case scenario.

So he was understandably rattled in mid-February when he ran into Rabastan Lestrange at work. The Lestrange family sat on several committees and had connections with higher-ups, but they didn't work at the ministry themselves. They had the kind of money where they didn't have to work at all. But as Ted got into the lift, interdepartmental memos flying overhead in a hurry to reach their destination, he was joined by his former romantic rival. The other man didn't seem to notice him right away, but as the doors closed and his eyes locked on Ted, it became very clear that Rabastan, at least, had not forgotten about Andromeda.

The floor below them moved down. Ted was on his way to pull some records for a superior. There were several other people in the lift with them, and Rabastan didn't say a word. He just stared with icy eyes, his jaw clenched and his hands balled tight. Ted, nervous, did the worst possible thing he could think to do. He smiled.

The door stopped and a voice announced the floor. Three people left and one got on. The floor moved again. Ted wondered if he should get off and find a back stairway to avoid Lestrange. The lift stopped again and several more got off. Nobody got on this time. There were just three wizards left. Ted looked around, trying to avoid Rabastan's gaze. The lift stopped on the floor for the hall of records. Ted got off.

Rabastan followed.

They were alone in the corridor as the door closed behind them. Ted rested his hand near his wand and started walking towards his destination. Rabastan was following closer. Ted had a decision to make, so he took a deep breath and stopped, spinning on his heel. "Need something?" he asked, pretending he didn't recognize the psychopath who used to torture him in school.

"Tonks, right?" Rabastan asked.

"Depends who's asking," Ted said. His heart thumped in his chest. Would he be faster on the draw than Lestrange. Would Lestrange really risk attacking him here?

"How's married life treating you, Tonks?" Rabastan asked, his eyes narrowing.

Ted had a million ideas all popping into his head at once--ideas about what he could say that would cut Rabastan to the core. He was too much of a gentleman to make any lewd comments about his sex life with Andromeda, but the ideas were there, bobbing at the surface. More dangerous than that was the desire to make some quippy comment about how Andromeda had been thinking about Ted the whole time she'd been stuck in an engagement with Rabastan. He could thank the dark-haired ghoul for blowing it so that he could step in.

But Ted had avoided plenty of fist-fights with proud Gryffindors by _not_ saying every clever insult that popped into his mind in a conflict. He practiced non-violence, and all of the things he wanted to say would only escalate this situation and possibly motivate Rabastan to go after Andromeda. Ted knew the right thing to do was to give Rabastan no reason to draw his wand.

"Oh, you know," Ted said, trying to think of what sounded normal and wouldn't poke the bear. "Settling in." Ted, who was normally a sparkling conversationalist, made it his goal to make this awkward and give Rabastan nothing to go on.

"Has she gotten bored yet?" Rabastan asked.

"Of my cooking?" Ted asked, playing dumb.

The distant sound of clicking heels grew louder behind Ted. Ted let out a sigh of relief. "What office are you looking for, Lestrange? I don't think there's anything for civilians down here."

Rabastan's whole body twitched, like he was thinking of moving but then hesitated. He flashed a pained smile and nodded. "Right. Wrong floor. Have a good day, Tonks." He turned back towards the lift as an older witch with arms full of records came around the corner.

Ted thought he could go on and finish his task, but he was a little afraid Rabastan would come back, so he rushed to help the witch. "Here, let me help with those," he said, rushing forward.

The doors to the lift opened behind them, but Ted stalled, taking a moment to bind the pile for her in conjured twine and charm it to float. The doors closed, and Rabastan was gone. Ted was safe, for now.

~❀~

Andromeda kept in touch with Sirius, but Narcissa never wrote and Andromeda had accepted the fact that the relationship was over. Any hope she had that their sisterly affection would overcome Cissy's duty as a daughter had faded when Christmas had come and gone without a word. Ted had come home once and told her about a terse conversation with Rabastan at work, but that was all she'd heard about anyone from her past beyond little Sirius. Nobody had come after her, and she was beginning to think the Black family proper had willingly forgotten there was even a third daughter until she too ran into Rabastan on the twenty-eighth of February at Flourish and Blott’s.  
She was bundled up in a long wool peacoat with her Slytherin green and gray scarf and a pair of denim trousers, and she held her hand on her stomach and felt little Nymphadora kick and press her tiny foot out towards her mother’s fingers. Andromeda’s skin was clearer than it had ever been, her hair was fuller, and she felt great. She looked great. Andromeda was browsing the cookbook section when a shadow was cast behind her. 

  
She glanced over her shoulder not expecting to see more than another customer shopping and saw Rabastan, tall and slender with dark hair and sunken eyes, leaning on a bookshelf and watching her. She put another hand protectively over her belly and tried to reason out the best way to respond to his attention.

  
“Oh,” she said, deciding on fake civility as Ted had done during his own confrontation. “It’s been a long time, Mr. Lestrange.”

  
“Andromeda Black,” he said like a snake, milking her name.

  
“It’s Tonks now,” she replied, chin held high.

  
“So it’s true. You whored yourself out to a mudblood and got trapped.”

  
“Actually, Ted was the escape,” she said with an applied smile. “Trapped would have been marrying you.” So much for civility, but he started it.

  
Rabastan pushed himself off the bookcase and stood straight. He rubbed his fingernail with the other hand and looked her over like a piece of meat. “I knew that purity ploy was fake. You were getting shagged and then turning around, acting coy—”

  
She wanted to correct him and tell him she was a virgin until she left Hogwarts, but it didn’t matter. He was a loathsome worm, and she had nothing to justify to him. In fact, she wanted to hurt him. She wanted to hurt their whole pureblood world. “How does it feel?” she asked. “To know a muggleborn Hufflepuff was more fuckable than you?” she said it quietly to avoid causing a scene in the shop, but she made sure it was clearly articulated for him. Anger flashed across his face and his fists clenched, but he seemed to remember where he was.

  
“Bellatrix told me about that day, when she tortured you on the lawn and you pleaded with her.”

  
Andromeda’s heart, which was already speeding, raced faster. She felt her breath catch in her chest. She still had nightmares about it, nightmares where she woke up in a cold sweat and Ted had to calm her. Rabastan saw the panic rise in her eyes and smiled.

  
“I like to think about that, to imagine you in pain beyond human imagining, begging.” He reached down and grabbed his own crotch, making it very clear when he thought about it. “I think about Bellatrix standing over you, you asking her to stop.”

  
Andromeda put her hand on her wand, which she kept in a special pocket inside her coat. What if she hexed him right now? What would happen? Would the ministry show up? Would she have to explain what he was doing? Would they believe her?

  
“Really?” She knew he was unstable and the smart thing to do was keep him calm until she could get around him and out of the shop, but she was done placating his kind. She was done being behaved. “It gets you off? Knowing women would rather be tortured than be touched by you?”

  
He moved his hand away from his groin and took a threatening step towards her. She held her ground, knowing she was faster with a hex, but watching to make sure his hands didn’t go to the holstered wand on his hip.

  
“Enjoy it while it lasts,” he said. “Blood traitors are at the top of the list.”

  
She wanted to ask what list, but she didn’t want him to have the satisfaction of knowing he scared her. She rolled her eyes. “Have a nice day, Rabastan. I have grown up things to do.” She pushed past him and escaped the dead-end aisle. When she was out of the store she stopped, acid rising in her stomach, her breathing shallow and panicked.  
A witch on the street saw her distress and stopped. “Are you alright dear?” The woman asked. She was a red-headed woman in her late twenties with a very young infant on a sling around her front and toddler on her hip— both had equally red hair.

  
Andromeda was afraid that Rabastan would come out of the shop and see her any minute, but she couldn’t catch her breath. She felt like her lungs were being crushed, and her fingers were numb and cold.

  
The woman opened the door to guide Andromeda back in, but she shook her head and managed to gasp, “Not in there.”

  
“Bill, follow mummy,” she said to the boy as she let him down and lead Andromeda into the adjacent shop, Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. She sat Andromeda on a bench while the titular Madam Malkin came out.

  
Andromeda was sobbing now and trying to breathe, but with each short gasp she was further in debt for oxygen and her head was spinning. The woman rubbed circles on her back and coached her to breathe slower, deeper. Madam Malkin ran off and came back with a glass of water.

  
Slowly Andromeda caught her breath. Her lungs and her throat burned. She worried about the baby getting the oxygen it needed. When she had stopped sobbing, the shop owner handed her the water, and she gulped half the glass down.

  
“Has something happened?” the ginger woman asked. “Is there someone we can owl or send a patronus?”

  
Andromeda closed her eyes. When she opened them, she looked between the sleeping baby in the sling and the toddler who looked scared but curious. He twisted his shirt and then stepped closer, placing his hand on Andromeda’s belly. “Baby,” he said, looking between his baby sibling and Andromeda.

  
“Yes, baby,” she said.

  
“This Charlie,” the boy said, pointing at his baby brother. 

  
Andromeda smiled, still sniffling occasionally. “And what’s your name?”

  
“Bill,” he said before smiling and suddenly looking shy.

  
“This your first, dear?” The woman asked.

  
Andromeda nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I’m due mid-May.”

  
“Do I need to reach someone for you, mam?” Madam Malkin asked.

  
“No, no let’s not worry my husband,” Andromeda said. She wondered if she should even tell Ted. What would he do if she told him that Rabastan had groped himself in her presence, threatened them, and caused her to go into a shell-shocked panic over her torture? She was pretty sure he’d never struck or hexed a person in his life, but she didn’t want to risk him trying it now. “I just needed to stay in here for a moment,” she said.

  
“Were you…” the woman hesitated, “Were you scared of someone? Should we get a—”

  
“Ex boyfriend,” Andromeda said, but that wasn’t really true. “Ex… there’s a reason I didn’t marry him. And I don’t want to make it into anything more than it already is,” she added. “I don’t need my husband to go to prison for killing him,” she said with a forced smile.

  
The woman seemed to understand that. She waited quietly while Andromeda finished her water. “Thank you,” Andromeda finally said. “It would have been mortifying to pass out in Diagon Alley.”

  
“Oh they'd have forgotten it in a week. My water broke with Charlie right in the middle of the Apothecary two weeks before Christmas. I’m Molly. Molly Weasley,” she said.  
Ah, a Weasley. Andromeda had a distant relative, a cousin of her grandfather, that was blown off the family tapestry for marrying a Weasley. They were pureblooded but too easy-going about it to be respected by the families that cared about such things. No wonder she was so decent.

  
“Andromeda— Tonks,” she blushed. “Still getting used to the surname change.”

  
“Newlywed then?”

  
Andromeda nodded. “Around Halloween.” Molly’s eyes glanced down towards Andromeda’s Quaffle-sized belly and she wondered if the woman was doing the math in her head. In a "fuck it" moment she decided to lean into the gossip. It hurt her parents and their reputation more than it hurt her. “I’m the infamous Black family daughter that ran away with the muggleborn.”

  
Molly smirked. “I’d heard something about that.”

  
Andromeda took a deep breath and stood. She had to get home to start cooking. She had to decide how much she’d tell Ted. “Thank you for your assistance,” she said.   
“Are you apparating home?” she asked, sounding very concerned. 

  
“Oh, no, my healer told me to avoid apparating after twenty weeks so I don’t splinch,” she said. It was easy enough to fix a splinched foot, but anything else was a risk to the baby. “I’ll take the floo in the Leaky Cauldron.”

  
Andromeda and Molly parted ways at the door. Molly Weasley headed towards Gringott’s while Andromeda returned to the Leaky, keeping her head on a swivel in case Rabastan or another Lestrange popped up.

  
When she got home, she washed her face and reapplied her makeup before putting chicken in the oven and settling down with a book. She moved around the house barefoot because her feet and ankles were swollen. She read a book one of Ted's muggle coworkers had recommended: Pride and Prejudice. She tried not to think about Rabastan until Ted got home.

~❀~

Ted returned home promptly at six and remarked on the smell of roasting chicken as soon as he opened the door. “How long until it’s ready?” he asked. His stomach growled.

“Twenty minutes?” Andromeda guessed. She wasn’t smiling, and Ted noticed her lips pressed together in a thin, worried line.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Ran into Rabastan,” she said. She told him the whole story, her eyes glittering with the threat of tears, managing not to cry. Ted could tell she was trying to glaze over the part where Rabastan was groping himself, but Ted made her go back and clarify, so there was no hiding it.

“Should you report that?” he asked, sitting next to her on the sofa. At some point during her recount he had loosened his tie.

“What, that he vaguely hinted that my happiness wouldn’t last in a non-explicitly threatening way? That he used bad words? What would I report?”

“I’d kill him if—”

“If you had an ounce of violence in you,” she said. She cradled his cheek in her hand and shook her head. “I like Ted the lover, not the fighter.”

“He’s dangerous.”

“He is,” she agreed. “But unless he does or says something concrete, he’s just a menace. There’s no law against being an arse.”

“Did you really say that thing about preferring torture to him?” Ted asked.

She nodded. “And I meant it.”

“Who was it that helped you?” Ted asked.

Andromeda got up to go get a beer from the kitchen to open for him. Ted followed. “Molly Weasley,” she said. “Older than us. Probably out of Hogwarts by the time we started.”

“Wonder if that’s Arthur Weasley’s wife.”

“Hmm?” Andromeda didn’t know Arthur Weasley.

“Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. I met with him this December when someone in my office was writing a story about dangerous toasters. Someone was hexing them at Selfridges, and they were zapping muggles. I realized they might not just be ordinary defective appliances and had him look into it.”

“Might be him,” she said. “Two kids, very young. Baby was born before Christmas.” She used her wand to pop the top off the beer bottle and gave it to Ted. “She was very nice. Seemed to know the rumors about us.”

Ted scratched the back of his neck. “So we really are the topic of wizard gossip.”

“It’s a small world,” she said. “And we have an exciting sex scandal. It’s exactly what my mother and father feared.”

“Does it bother you?” he asked.

Andromeda shook her head. “No, if anything it kind of makes me want to take you down to Diagon Alley and snog you in public so they’ll talk more.” She smiled. “Imagine what the people would say. Imagine how they would take it.

Ted chuckled. “Make love, not war.” He took a long swig of his beer.

“What if we put this chicken in the icebox and go eat in public? In front of wizards?” She gestured to the oven. “This will make great sandwiches this weekend. So let’s stop hiding from old family friends and flaunt it. Yes, this is Ted, a muggleborn, and he knocked me up and we’re happy. We did nothing wrong.”

Ted placed his hands on her shoulders. “‘Dromeda…”

“Isn’t that the best revenge? Happiness?”

“I don’t know if that’s… safe.”

Andromeda scowled. “Safe?”

“Your sister tortured you with an unforgivable curse and you never reported it to the ministry because you were afraid of her.” Ted was making intense eye contact now. “And I’m not saying you should have… because you know, you felt unsafe, but… maybe revenge flaunting of our marriage and pregnancy is also not safe.”

“I’m so tired of behaving and tip-toeing around and lying about who I am and what I want to please those bastards!” she shouted.

Ted blinked. This was probably the first time she'd ever raised her voice at him aside from when she was trying to dump him, drunk, inside that taxi this summer.

“Sorry,” she said.

“No, I get it…” Ted let go of her and rubbed his mouth. “You just raise your voice so infrequently that… it makes sense. I guess I’ve just been waiting for you,” he said, gesturing with his hands, “to get rightfully angry over this. Instead of just scared. I don’t like it when you’re scared.”

“I don’t like being scared either,” she said. Her voice cracked.

“So you’ve moved on to angry.”

“Livid,” she said. “I want to fight back.”

“So maybe it’s my turn to be scared for you,” he said. “Because if you goad them into action… I don’t want to lose you. Your family is abusive, and nothing they do is your fault, but I would rather you be cautious than dead.”

And there it was. They both knew it but had never really said it out loud. They knew Bellatrix would torture Andromeda. They knew her father would kill Ted. But here it was. Her family would kill her rather than experience the shame of her defiance. Definitely not Narcissa. Maybe not even her parents, whom Ted had still never met. But definitely Bellatrix and Rodolphus. They would do it, and her parents would let them get away with it. Her parents would let Bellatrix kill her and tell the aurors they knew nothing about it. And if they could hurt her, there was surely no safety for Ted or Nymphadora.

“Okay,” Andromeda said. “But eventually we have to come out of hiding. I’m not going to stop shopping in Diagon Alley.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to.”

“And if you have a ministry thing where spouses come—”

“Of course,” Ted stepped forward and pulled her into his arms.

“But I’ll back down for now. Until the baby comes.”

“Thank you,” Ted said. He kissed her temple.

The timer went off for dinner. Andromeda stepped away and levitated the pan out of the oven. The small seasoned hen had to sit for a minute before they could cut it, but Ted stood back and finished his beer, watching as Andromeda steamed some broccoli and warmed the already cooked rice.

They ate dinner together quietly. Ted chatted briefly about some inter-office politics between the muggles, and then he insisted on cleaning the dishes while Andromeda watched. “I wish I could pour you a glass of wine,” he said as he scoured the rice pot with a less-effective charm than Andromeda probably would have chosen. She was so much better at this, but the point was giving her a break.

“Hmm, yes, well, healer said it’s probably alright to have one once in a while but I was already pretty tipsy that night I tried to dump you, so it’s probably better safe than sorry.” She sipped on a can of lemon soda water. He could see from the way she watched him work that she wanted to take over so badly.

They continued to chat while he worked, but eventually she fell quiet, and when Ted thought to look back again, he realized her attention was no longer on the dishes, but something else: Ted’s ass. She was smiling just a little, the corners of her lips curled up. That look was trouble.

“What are— what are you smirking about?” he asked with a similar smile on his lips.

“Just thinking about how our best revenge is happiness,” she said.

“Yeah? Does that happiness entail watching me do household chores?”

“Mmm, yeah, but naked.”

Ted laughed. “That doesn’t sound safe.”

“Yeah,” Andromeda said, squinting. “I’m really just thinking you should just be naked. I can do the cleaning later.”

Ted leaned back against the kitchen counter and folded his arms across his chest. “So the best revenge is me naked?”

“Yes,” she said. “Hmmm..”

“Hmm? What are you thinking?”

“I’m just trying to get creative.”

“Creative?”

Andromeda stood up and left the kitchen. He followed close behind her. When she stepped over the threshold of the bedroom, Ted grabbed her hips to stop her and stepped forward, pressing his body against her. She turned around in his arms. “What do you mean by creative?” he asked. He was dying to know.

~❀~

Andromeda took his tie off and held it in her hands. She thought about it for a moment before wrapping it around his eyes as a blindfold and tying a secure knot. Ted grinned. “Okay,” he said. “I like where you’re going.”

Now that he was blind, he was truly in her hands. She grabbed his arms and guided him to sit on the end of the bed. He was grinning like an idiot as she stood in front of him, unbuttoning his shirt. He slipped out of the shirt and pulled off his undershirt before grabbing at her backside and attempting to pull her into his lap.

“Wait, wait, wait,” she said, dodging his grasp and clicking her tongue at him. “You’re mine right now.”

“Oh,” he said. “Oh… okay,” and he nodded a few times. She had stepped away and he was turning his head, trying to follow the sounds she made by hearing. She walked to the closet and examined his tie rack, picking out an old tie she wasn’t a fan of and bringing it back. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I don’t think you should ask anymore questions,” she said. Andromeda took his hands and put them together before setting about tying his wrists. She could see Ted growing firm in his trousers despite the fact that she had barely touched him. When his hands were secured, she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips before stepping back and disappearing from his reach.

She moved quietly about the room, stepping heel to toe to keep her whereabouts a mystery. Ted tried to listen to follow her, but he was failing miserably. She unbuttoned her blouse and dropped it to the floor. His attention snapped to the sound of the fabric landing in a heap. Andromeda unclasped her bra, an ugly extra large bra that she was glad he couldn’t see right now, though he’d already seen it many times before.

She approached him again and grabbed the bindings on his wrists. She guided his hands to one of her breasts, letting him gently massage the swollen volume. He pinched her nipple, causing her to gasp. She pressed her fingers into his shoulder and urged him to lay back so she could unbuckle his belt and rid him of his shoes and trousers.

“You’re teasing me,” he said as he waited with his bound hands folded on his stomach, his erection twitching in his boxers.

“Do you want me to stop?” she asked.

“Not at all,” he growled.

Andromeda grazed his erection through the fabric of his underwear and then moved away again, leaving him in a sensory void, unable to predict what she’d do next. She was getting excited from the power dynamic of the situation. She could leave him hanging or have him however she wanted. She had little opportunity in her life to be in control of things.

She unzipped her jeans: a pair with a wide elastic top to accommodate her large belly. The sound made his head tilt like a pup who had just heard a treat bag open. She pushed the denim over her hips and took her white cotton panties with them. When she stepped out of her clothing, completely naked, she took a moment to look in the bedroom mirror. Andromeda, her stomach tight and swollen with child, thought she had never looked healthier or happier. Ted, tied up and waiting, sat on the edge of the bed, trusting her completely and yielding power to her whim. She was overwhelmed with love and had to wipe her eyes, glad he couldn’t see it because she didn’t want him to worry. Damn hormones.

“‘Dromeda?” he asked.

She pressed a finger to his lips and then took his hands. She guided them to her inner thigh and let him go. Wrists crossed, he found her clitoris by touch and applied light pressure, rubbing in small circles and shifting the bud of nerves in its hood. She guided his head forward and Ted buried his face in her breasts.

She played with his hair until he sent a shock of pleasure up her spine and her knees tried to buckle. Her feet hurt, and she decided she was done standing. She was in control now, so she pushed his hand away and told him to stand up.

“Yes mam,” he said. She pulled his bindings to help him forward and switched places to sit on the bed. Ted turned to face her, and she grabbed his hips to pull him squarely in front of her. Andromeda stripped off his boxers and took his length in her hand.

“Ted,” she said his name in a low, silky tone. His cock jumped in her hand. “Do you think you have two rounds in you?”

“Er… I don’t know,” he said. “If I don’t, can I just help you out the other way?”

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s a deal.” She kissed the tip of his length and darted her tongue out to lick it. Then she created a tight ring with her lips and pushed forward, taking as much of him into her mouth as she could manage without gagging. She kept her tongue pressed firmly against him and began to bob her head up and down along the length of him. She was far more sure of her actions now than she had been months and months ago when they were seventh years sneaking off to the prefect's bathroom.

Ted placed his hands on top of her head, threaded through her hair, and tipped his head back. “Oh, Jesus, Andromeda, I like to watch when you do this but… this is good too.” He gasped and pressed his fingers into her scalp. She knew he was fighting a thrusting instinct and she added her hand to the base of his shaft, stroking in opposition to her mouth. Ted’s low groans started to catch in his throat and she knew he was almost there.

She removed her mouth just in time for him to come, his whole body tensing as semen spurted from the tip and dripped down onto her breasts and hand. She slowed the motion of her hand until she came to a stop, nursing him through his orgasm.

When he was done she untied his hands and guided him to kneel in front of her so she could remove the blindfold. He squinted at the light in the room before kissing her again, slowly, sensually.

“Where’s one of our wands?” she asked as he broke the kiss. She needed a little cleanup before they went on. Ted found his in the trousers she’d discarded on the floor and cast a spell before tossing it back down to find later. He kissed her belly, his eyes maintaining contact with her own.

“I’m going to need a few minutes to go again,” he said before widening his stance on his knees to get lower and taking her hands. “You’re going to need to lay back if my face is going to fit down here,” he said. Her stomach was kind of in the way. She obeyed, and his face disappeared behind her distended belly. The next sign she had of him was the gentle lapping of his tongue and his hands resting on the insides of her thighs. He paused and repositioned her legs, resting them on the tops of his shoulders so that her feet hung down behind his back, and set to work again, sliding his index finger deep inside of her while his tongue pressed firmly against her sensitive nub.

Ted added a second finger, searching her depths as he listening for feedback. When he found the spot that sent jolts through her body, she gasped and told him he was there. He began to slide his fingers within her, taking care to return pressure to that magic spot each time. She arched her back and slid her hands along the sheets, reveling in the sensations he was sending through her body.

And then he stopped abruptly.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Ready sooner than I thought I would be,” he said, rising up on his knees and gripping her legs to keep them against his chest. He probed her with one finger and then replaced that finger with the head of his penis. She whimpered to urge him forward. With one quick thrust he was filling her. She gasped and bit her lower lip.

“Is this good?” he asked, moving slowly, his fingers pressed into her thighs as he held them up.

“So good,” she managed to breathe.

Ted began a steady rhythm, drawing as far out as he could without her body losing its grip on the head of his shaft and then slamming himself back in, buried to the hilt. It was an athletic event, and soon her body clenched around him as a ripple of pleasure coursed through her. Andromeda moaned and whimpered and begged him not to stop as her body carried her through the orgasm.

She wasn’t done. Each stroke still felt amazing and she wanted more. Ted began to pant. He smacked her backside before breathing, “turn over” and pulling all the way out of her. He got to his feet, and Andromeda turned onto her hands and knees, her belly hanging down. Ted pulled her butt back to the edge of the bed and positioned himself at her entrance before thrusting back into her and picking up the steady rhythm when he left off. Her body gripped him and pulsed with pleasure, but unlike other times where she was too sensitive and needed him to finish, she wanted more. He pressed his fingers into her back and gripped her bare skin as he hammered away, his breathing loud, the bed shaking.

“Oh God,” he panted. She could tell he was getting tired.

“Get on your back,” she said. He withdrew and obeyed, laying down on the bed. She turned around, her back to him, and straddled him, sliding down onto his length. Ted grabbed her back and gently spanked her backside as she rose up and fell back onto him repeatedly. After a few minutes of this third position he roared, lifting his backside off of the bed and forcing her to stop her own movements and just hold on as he pounded up into her and came with a strangled cry.

When it was over she carefully raised a leg and dismounted. She laid back on the bed with him while his feet dangled off the edge. They both breathed hard.

“Eventually we’re going to find better things to do with our free time,” he said. Andromeda laughed. “Yeah, I didn’t think so either,” he added.

“Eventually I’m going to go back to school and then you’ll have to unbury me from a mountain of textbooks to try this.”

Ted turned onto his side and propped his head up on his arm. “You found plenty of time to get off at Hogwarts. We’ll manage. Maybe not as often but… well it’s the quality of the time not the quantity, right?” Andromeda turned her head to look at him. His hair was damp and sweat beaded on his forehead. “Besides,” he said, touching the sweat that had formed on her own face. “We’ll be in the best shape of our lives if we keep doing this. Isn’t that the best revenge? Being our sexiest selves?”

Andromeda was suddenly very sleepy. She needed a lot of extra sleep these days. She closed her eyes and hummed agreement.

“It’s not even eight,” Ted said.

“Your point?” she murmured. She was thoroughly shagged and relaxed. The exhaustion of the day, emotional and physical, had taken its toll. She just needed sleep.

Ted waited for a moment before kissing her forehead. “Alright, you sleep. I’ll go watch the telly.”

“Mmm, goodnight.”

“Goodnight, love,” he said. She felt his weight leave the bed beside her. He covered her in a blanket and turned out the lights. Andromeda knew, as she drifted off, that no matter how much Rabastan and Bellatrix tried to scare her, she had chosen the right life.


	22. Voldemort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda meets Voldemort

**Chapter Twenty-Two:  
Voldemort**

Two days later Ted was due to check in with his handler in the ministry. He had not forgotten his wife's encounter with Lestrange, and despite trying to put on a brave face at home, he was worried. Lestrange was a loose canon, and the world they lived in was growing increasingly hostile towards muggleborns. Over the past few months he had noticed a rise in anti-muggle sentiment being openly discussed around him. His meeting with his handler, only strengthened his worries.

Creon Blackerby wasn't alone when Ted popped into his office in the morning. Blackerby, an older wizard with a long, neat beard, was sitting with a young, dark-skinned witch with long braided hair and a scar above her left eyebrow. She stood up and extended a hand to Ted when he walked in. Ted thought he recognized her as a Gryffindor a few years ahead of him in school. "Savage," she said. "Aurors division."

An auror? That worried him. "Ted Tonks," he said.

"You're the under cover guy?" she asked. "In the muggle newspaper?"

Ted nodded. "I am." He wondered if she was here on a social call or if something was wrong.

"Savage is here discussing a little... chatter," Blackerby said. He gestured to an open chair and Ted sat down. The office was small and the little free space was filled with filing cabinets and magical devices. One of them was an orb that blinked bright light when there was a significant amount of buzz about the same topic from many people all at once in the area. Ted had seen it flashing when the muggles were all getting word of an important breaking news story.

Ted looked at the orb. "What kind of chatter?"

"Nothing that big yet," Blackerby said, following Ted's gaze.

"Yet," Ted repeated.

"The Death Eaters," Savage said, "have been primarily concerned with attacking muggles. But we received a tip from a wizard... his wife is a muggle. They're part of that bullshit Sacred Twenty-Eight," she said, making air quotes with her fingers.

Ted's lips moved in a closed-mouth grimace. "So is my wife," he said.

"Wizard in question received a tip from a family member to watch his back. Says the Death Eaters want to start addressing blood traitors."

Ted felt ill. Could the timing be coincidence, or had running into Ted and Andromeda lit a fire under Rabastan Lestrange? He covered his mouth.

"What's that look, Tonks?" Blackerby asked.

Ted took a deep breath. "This... I... my wife is Andromeda Black. I'm a muggleborn. There had been veiled threats by some of the family since our marriage," he said.

"Have there?" Savage asked.

Blackerby cut in. "Savage was here warning us that attacks may shift to blended families. People who have married _muggles," _he said.

"I understand," Ted said. He knew Andromeda didn't want to involve authorities in their situation, but maybe now was the time to reconsider that. But could he tell the aurors without consulting her first? And at this point could they be in trouble for not reporting an unforgivable curse back nearly four months ago?

"Do you think your wife's family would hurt you?" Savage asked.

Ted almost laughed. He _knew_ they would. "Oh... pretty certain hexing is not off the table," he said. An understatement, but he didn't want to betray Andromeda's wishes. Still, he wasn't going to totally clam up. "You know when I was at Hogwarts, Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange were pretty much solely devoted to hunting down muggleborns and torturing us. You may want to put them on a watch list or whatever you do."

Savage nodded. Maybe she already had them on her radar. She got up. "Well, I just needed to let you know about that," she said. "If our source is right, these won't be big show-pieces like the other muggle attacks. It will be single family homes. Break-ins. Quiet murders. Will you let us know if anything comes up?"

"Of course," Blackerby said.

"Yes," Ted confirmed. "Thank you."

Savage stepped out into the hall. Ted closed the door behind her.

"You nervous, Tonks?" Blackerby asked.

Ted nodded. "More than you know," he said. And then he took a deep breath and had a seat. "But I really can't dwell on that right now or I'll go mad. Let's talk about the paper." And they continued on with the rest of Ted's check-in.

~❀~

Andromeda didn’t let Rabastan’s threats keep her from Diagon Alley, even after Ted came home and told her there was talk of focusing on blood traitors. A week later she found herself back for a visit to The Apothecary to restock basic household supplies. One thing that always amazed Andromeda when she visited Ted’s parents was how much they spent on household cleaning devices and products that didn’t work. In Ted’s absence, Mr. and Mrs. Tonks has gotten a puppy, and Ted had spent the previous evening on the phone listening to his mother complain about getting the stains out of the carpet. Andromeda had decided to brew a bottle of a potion that was perfect for the job when she realized she was out of dried ladybugs.

She wore a green cloak with a hood, which she pulled down when she entered the shop because obscured faces always made shopkeepers anxious, and made her way over to the insect area of the shop. She was just weighing a glass jar on the scale to zero it out when the commotion started. The door to the shop flew open, and an elderly wizard called “death eaters!”

Andromeda, who hadn’t apparated in months, was about to make the jump when someone next to her yelled “they’ve cast a net!” Andromeda hadn’t heard the term, and she tried to apparate anyway. Nothing happened. Was something wrong with her?

People started flooding into the shop from the street. “Why can’t I apparate?” a younger man asked. Andromeda crouched behind a shelf of flies, her wand ready, her hand on her stomach.

“It’s a net,” the person who had first used the term said in a loud whisper. “The ministry uses them when they have to make an arrest. It’s takes a dozen wizards with specialized knowledge and as many to remove it."

Andromeda had used a weaker version of the charm in her home, but it took a long time for one wizard to cover a room alone. To cover a whole street...

“We have to be ready to fight,” the young man said, moving to get between Andromeda and the door. She didn’t know this guy, but she wondered if he had a N.E.W.T. in Defense Against the Dark Arts like she did. Andromeda went through a list of hexes and defensive charms in her head. Surely the ministry would send aurors and stop it, right?

The shopkeeper cast a charm to turn out all of the lights. They waited. Andromeda’s knuckles were white from gripping her wand less like a spell-casting implement and more like a dagger. She looked around the shelf just in time to see an explosion of green and flying glass in the street. Someone screamed, and then there was another flash of green before the screaming stopped. She wanted to send a patronus to Ted to tell him that she loved him, but he was at a muggle office building. Instead she decided not to assume someone had gone for help and cast a patronus to contact the ministry. She sent the message to an auror she had met once while volunteering at St. Mungo’s: Robards. She closed her eyes and called up the memory of Ted, sopping wet, standing in her room and telling her he loved her, and a silvery tiger without stripes formed from the tip of her wand. She said, “Death Eaters are attacking Diagon Alley. We’re all trapped,” and sent the tiger off.

The door to The Apothecary opened.

The death eaters wore masks that looked like white porcelain skulls to cover their faces. Each one of them had a hood up over their hair and a long black cloak. In most of the attacks that had been reported, there had been half a dozen followers and Voldemort himself: a small but serious threat. Now as the group passed by on the street, seen through the shop window, Andromeda guessed there were at least twelve, if not more. Two death eaters entered the shop with lit wands raised high in the air.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” one of them sang as if he were merely playing hide-and-seek with children. He flicked his wand and lifted a barrel of dried beetles, sending it smashing into a wall-mounted shelf. The wizard who hid behind the barrel leaped up and was caught in the chest with a blast of red sparks from the other death eater’s wand. He fell square on his back, coughing. The death eater who had flung the barrel crossed and trained his wand on his prone victim. An invisible force seemed to push down on his chest, suffocating him as he tried to gasp for air.

The young wizard who had talked a big game about fighting was frozen in front of Andromeda, and she stepped around him to shout, “Expelliarmus!” and disarm the wizard. Someone else threw up a shield in front of her before the other death eater could strike her with a hex, and the room broke into a full-on battle. Someone behind Andromeda dropped with a flash of green, and she knew there was only one way out of the shop. The battle was fifteen to two, and though one of the patrons of the shop was a ten-year-old girl, the death eaters were quickly disarmed.

And then more flooded through the door. They cast shields and disarmed shoppers. Andromeda’s wand shot from her hand and hit the ceiling before skittering unceremoniously across the wooden shop floor. When the fighting stopped, there were ten death eaters in the tiny store, three patrons were dead, and Andromeda was on her knees with her hands in the air.

And then he walked in. Voldemort. He had been described in newspapers as a pale, tall man with a snakelike face. The reality was someone who looked less human and more like a creature of darkness trying to mimic human form. He had a graceful, casual way about his movement, but his white skin was almost translucent and looked unnaturally stretched over his sharp skeleton. His long white fingers delicately held his wand, as if he knew he need not feel threatened.

He looked down at one of the first two death eaters in the shop, now unconscious but alive on the ground. He sneered. “Someone wake them up. Defeated by a group of scared women and children too weak to even kill them. Pathetic.” His voice was raspy, almost hissing, and strangely high for a man of his stature. It reminded Andromeda of nails on a chalkboard.

She cast her eyes over the death eaters, looking for an escape opportunity and praying the ministry would get here. Then her eyes fell on a familiar figure. She had bony shoulders but impeccable posture. She wore healed boots and stood with her weight shifted to one leg, the other foot tipped back on her heel, and her arms were folded across her chest. She knew, even with the mask and all of her skin covered, that this was Bellatrix. She suspected the man behind her with tense shoulders was Rodolphus, and the shorter, thinner man who walked with his groin forward, that had to be Rabastan.

There would be no slipping out now.

“Now, which one of these cattle should be culled?” Voldemort asked. “You,” he said, pointing at the man who talked a big fight but had frozen when the moment came. “What’s your name?”

He trembled and rose to his feet, hands folded in a pleading posture. “Er— uh— Linus Fenwick.”

“Fenwick,” Voldemort sneared. “Not ideal but wizards.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Please,” Voldemort said, relaxed and charming like he was at a cocktail party. “It’s ‘My Lord.’”

“Yes, my Lord. Both my parents are wizards.”

Andromeda hated Linus, and she knew it was wrong because he was just doing what he needed to get home to his family. But she hated him nonetheless.

Voldemort’s wand searched the lineup and stopped on Andromeda. He glanced back at the death eater that she knew was Bellatrix. Bellatrix nodded. “Stand up, girl,” Voldemort said.

Andromeda pushed herself to her feet, struggling just a bit with the balance of weight and her swollen ankles. She stood as straight as she could, not willing to look weak. If she died here, she wanted to have more dignity than Linus Fenwick.

“You’re the blood-traitor Black,” Voldemort said.

“Tonks,” Andromeda said defiantly._ Sorry Ted,_ she thought. She knew he would rather her take the slim odds of cowering and making it home alive. Voldemort’s lips twitched up in a displeased sneer.

“Kill her,” one of the death eaters said in a growl that was meant to disguise his voice. Voldemort held up a hand to quiet him.

“Now, now, that’s no way to start a movement, killing a perfectly healthy woman of such good breeding.”

“She’s a blood traitor,” another death eater said, and Andromeda knew from the way they all gripped their wands, eager to attack, that what she had done was more repulsive to them than who she had done it with. She was the worst thing you could be, someone who supposedly had all of the desirable qualities of a pureblood witch, but also someone who didn’t agree with them. Her existence disproved their thesis.

“Once we get rid of the mudblood, her blood is still good. There are ways of controlling undesirables like this one,” Voldemort said, and he reached forward and grabbed her chin. Every muscle in her body tensed. She felt sick. She wanted to spit or slap him, but she owed it to Ted not to do anything too stupid. “A lesson,” Voldemort said, over-enunciating the word. He flicked his wand and muttered, “Imperio,” and Andromeda felt a strange presence in the back of her mind that said kneel.

And without knowing that she was doing it, she dropped to her knees in front of Voldemort. He laughed. The other death eaters all laughed.

Voldemort stopped laughing, and they all fell quiet. “Kill that one,” he said, pointing to an older red-headed man with a gash on his shoulder who was still panting from the fight. “If I’m not mistaken, he’s a Weasley.”

Bellatrix, or the woman Andromeda knew was Bellatrix, stepped forward. There was shouting over her voice as she cast the killing curse and the man dropped to the ground. The death eaters started to leave the shop, but a voice in the back of Andromeda’s mind said, follow, and Andromeda rose to her feet and began to step with them. Inside her head she was screaming, but she had no way to control her body. She could barely even feel it.

Loud bangs sounded in the street. The death eaters tensed.

“They’ve broken through!” One of them yelled before apparating away.

Voldemort looked back at Andromeda and sighed, shaking his head. “Another time, girl,” he said, and with a thunderous crack he was gone. Andromeda collapsed on the floor like a marionette whose strings had been severed. She was saved.

A wizard with a ponytail stepped into the shop to secure it. Andromeda stayed on her hands and knees, trying to shake the echo of a presence in her mind. She breathed slowly, willing herself not to panic like she had when Rabastan had threatened her. Hitwizards followed aurors and started ushering survivors out to line up on the curb. It was a beautiful sunny day, and another net was cast to stop people from apparating in or out while the investigation was under way. Andromeda was given a chair outside Florian Fortescue’s because of her state and attended to early. It was Robards who came to sit opposite her.

“Another witch we interviewed said Voldemort recognized you,” he said. Robards was in his early forties with a long mustache and a little extra weight in the belly. An enchanted quill transcribed their conversation on parchment.

“Right, as a blood traitor. My husband, Ted Tonks, is muggleborn.”

“Ted, yes, and you sent the distress message?”

“Yes,” she said, breathing deep.

“What did Voldemort say or do to you?”

“He implied that they would kill my child and use me for breeding,” she said. Robards shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “And then he used the imperius curse to make me kneel. He was trying to make me follow him when aurors apparated.

“Let’s go back to the start, when you first knew something was wrong.”

Andromeda did her best to recount every detail she could remember, including Voldemort insisting he be called Lord and what curses she thought were used on some of the people injured in the fight. As she spoke, hitwizards in smart blue uniform robes carried stretchers with injured witches and wizards. A few of them were covered in sheets: the dead.

“And they all wore masks?”

“Yes, but I know who some of them were,” Andromeda said. “Well, one.”

“Do you?” Robards seemed eager to hear this new information and sat up straight. The papers talked about the way that Voldemort’s followers were anonymous, and she knew any lead was worth hearing at this point.

“I recognized my sister, Bellatrix Lestrange.”

“Did you see her face?”

“No, but I know how she moves. I know her shape, her walk.”

“Did you hear her voice?”

“No.”

Robards frowned. “Why would you report your own sister as a death eater. You didn’t see anything concrete. What if you’ve falsely accused her.”

“She used the cruciatus curse on me when I told the family I was pregnant. She’s no stranger to the unforgiveables.”

“Did you report this to the ministry?” Robards asked.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because my family is very well connected, and I just wanted to get away from them.”

“So you have a grudge against your sister.”

Andromeda’s temper flared. How dare he blame this on her! “She has a grudge against me for tarnishing her perfect pureblood family tree. She’s a psychopath. I’ve seen evidence of it all my life. Voldemort knew who I was because we look so much alike. She’s me with black hair, black eyes, and sharper cheekbones. And he looked right at her when he asked questions about me. It was her!”

Robards picked up his quill before it could copy half of her last statement and tucked it in his pocket. “Thank you Mrs. Tonks. It’s been a long day. If you step towards the Leaky Cauldron, a healer can give you a once over. Of course they’ll also examine your wand for the last spell cast.”

She opened her mouth to object to his dismissal of her insight and then closed it. Was he a Black family ally? She tried to remember if she’d ever seen him at parties. No, Robards wasn’t a name she heard spoken of fondly. More likely he thought she was being a hormonal and irrational woman.

Andromeda got checked over by the healers. They used a spell to look at the last dozen charms she cast before giving her wand back to her. When they let her through the tiny ally into the inn, Ted was waiting in the packed pub. The news was out about the attack.

~❀~

“Thank God!” Ted shouted as he shoved his way through the crowd to get to Andromeda. “They wouldn’t tell me anything, but you weren’t home and they’ve blocked owls, patronuses... everything!”

Andromeda buried her face in his chest. “He was in my mind, Ted.”

“What?” Ted pulled back to look at her face. She looked pale.

“They don’t believe me, but Bella was with him.”

“With him? With Voldemort?”

She nodded.

Someone interrupted to ask what was going on, and another man started holding up a photograph of his son to ask if she’d seen him. Ted wrapped an arm around Andromeda and lead her through the crowd to the door. He sympathized with their worry, but Andromeda was his number one priority. When they made their way out onto the street, he hailed a taxi.

They got inside the quiet, dingy interior of the cab and sat in silence as it moved towards their flat. Forget their prior talk about showing the Blacks they weren't afraid--he was trembling. “We should leave the country,” Ted said quite suddenly.

“To what end?” Andromeda said. “If they want to find me, geography won’t matter. They have friends all over the world. We’d have to hide inside forever.” Ted was realizing how wrong he was in thinking that all they had to do was not flaunt their relationship until the baby came.

“There has to be something we can do to keep you safe,” Ted said.

The cab stopped at their house and Ted paid the very nervous driver. “He probably thinks we’ve stole from the mafia,” Ted said as he unlocked their front door.

“Ted, they’re not going to kill me,” she said. “They’d kill you in a second.”

“Bellatrix had no problem torturing you,” he said.

“Yes, but there are far too few pure blooded witches and wizards to maintain their ideal. I did the math years ago when I was bored at a campaign fundraiser for some pureblooded candidate. They were advocating a closed society like the traditional American system and, well, with twenty-eight intermarried families that regularly burn squibs and blood-traitors off the tree, we’d die out quickly. They need every woman of child-bearing age they can get. When the gene pool gets too small...” she took off her cloak and walked right into the bedroom. Ted followed.

“Too small...?” He wanted her to go on.

She stripped out of her robes and crossed to the bathroom.

“The Gaunt tree is mostly insane or deformed or dead. There are very few left who aren’t hopelessly inbred.”

“Ah,” Ted said. He sat on the end of the bed watching her, but he wasn’t doing it in his normally lusty manor. He couldn't think about sex now. He was terrified. Andromeda turned around and saw him, hands folded, just sitting there.

“Ted,” she said. “I’m okay.”

“Are you?” he asked. “What did you mean by ‘he was in my head?’”

She took a deep breath, standing by the tub with her bra and pants still on, watching him through the door. “Imperius curse,” she said.

“What?!” Ted stood up fast.

“Voldemort. He wanted to prove a point about control.” Ted had studied the unforgiveables in class, and he thought this one might have been the worst. Andromeda had suffered so much in her family home, having no control over her life. But you couldn't control someone long term with the imperius curse. It took focus. What was you-know-who going to do? "I would throw myself from the tallest tower of Hogwarts before I let Bellatrix or anyone control me again," she said. That was no comfort to Ted. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. They’ll have to kill me if they want to keep me from where I belong.”

“Don’t say that,” he said, his eyebrows knitting together. He stood and walked into the bathroom. Almost childlike in his approach, he fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around her, tears beading in his eyes. Andromeda held him, her hands on top of his head, as he cried.

A lot of time passed. She sat on the edge of the tub, his head in her lap, just being present with him, not talking. But she wasn't crying. When Ted looked up, he realized that her eyes were dry. Had she run out of tears?

They were finally interrupted by an owl at the bedroom window. Ted got up and let the bird in while Andromeda turned the tap on the bath. The bird at the window held a note, and it had Blackerby's handwriting on the front. Ted read the note, his mouth going dry. He came back into the bathroom feeling tired but alert.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Jimmy, our BBC guy,” he said, his eyes passing over the hastily-scribbled missive. “He was in Diagon Alley. He’s dead.”

“The guy on the telly?” she asked.

Ted nodded. “They want me to go in.”

“Go,” she said. “They need you.”

“You need me.” Ted couldn't leave her now. He didn't care about his job. He needed to be here for her.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’ll invite Pyxis if it makes you feel better or I’ll pop in on Steve. Just go.”

She stared back at him with determination in her eyes. Was she really this brave, or was she acting? Ted eventually nodded. “Okay,” he said. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said.

Ted grabbed his coat and his briefcase and left. And just to be sure, he sent a patronus off to Steven on the way. He needed to make sure that Andromeda wouldn't try to be brave. He couldn't have her being alone right now.


	23. The Cover Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted and Andromeda adopt a cover story for his job.

**Chapter Twenty-Three:  
The Cover Story**

Ted didn’t return until very late that night. Andromeda was dead asleep and didn’t hear him come in. When she woke he was asleep next to her, dressed in his boxers and undershirt instead of pajamas.

She slipped out of bed as quietly as she could, but Ted stirred when the mattress shifted. He looked up at her through squinted eyes, his hair standing up in remarkable bedhead, and made a confused groan.

“Go back to sleep,” she said.

“What time is it?”

“Eight.”

Ted opened his eyes wider and sat up. “Bollocks, I’ve got to... I was... shit.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I was supposed to talk to you last night but I didn’t want to wake you and now I’ve overslept.”

“What about?”

Ted swung his legs over the edge of the bed and rubbed his face vigorously. He took a moment to shake the sleep off and looked up at her. “Ministry needs a huge favour.”

“From me?” Andromeda sat back down on the bed. “Is this about the BBC guy?”

“Jimmy McKinnon. They want me to replace him.”

“Oh. Well what do I have to do with that?”

“It’s going to be hard to get me in there without raising suspicion. Jimmy was an anchor. Muggles know him. My muggle resume right now is a low-level columnist at a paper. We can’t obliviate enough muggles to get me a broadcast job.”

“I don’t get—”

“Likely they’ll promote another field reporter to his seat, but they need me to get a job on air so in a few months whoever that is can mysteriously win the lotto.”

“Oh wow, so you’re going to be the bloke on the telly every night?”

“That’s the plan. They thought nepotism might explain my sudden rise.”

“Yeah?” Andromeda still wasn’t sure why she was needed. She had no muggle connections of any kind except for Ted’s mum and dad.

“Jimmy’s been married eighteen years. Two kids. Both still at Hogwarts.”

Andromeda ran the name McKinnon through her mind and remembered a boisterous young boy, a Hufflepuff named Michael whom she had given detention once for wrestling a classmate in the library. He had a sister, she thought she remembered. A year below Narcissa. A prefect, Marlene. “Marlene and Michael?”

“That’s them. We’re working on a cover story, someone has gone to talk to the widow about it, but the idea is Jimmy had another kid before he married her. Was involved a little, paid his fair share in boarding school tuition and expenses, that sort of thing.”

“Okay...?”

“You’re the right age. And seeing as you have no muggle identity, it would be really simple for the forgers to make that... you.”

“Me?” Andromeda’s stood up. “I’m rubbish at pretending to be a muggle!”

“You’re much better these days,” Ted said, rising too. “And you look enough like him that it’s really believable. You go in with the family to clean his desk. I come along with—”

“I don’t want to insert myself into some poor family’s grieving.”

“‘Dromeda, this is the job. We have fake credentials, we wipe memories and do what we need to get in the positions that will protect Wizarding society. Jimmy knew his muggle life could be altered as needed to serve the job. His wife knows that too. Now, with Voldemort getting more brazen, we need someone there.”

Andromeda tried to think of how she would feel if Ted had died and someone wanted to pretend to be part of the family, to pretend to feel the same pain she did. Thinking about it made her eyes well up with tears, and she had to push the thought from her mind. Ted’s death wasn’t some remote possibility to her: he was in real danger. His chances of being targeted were higher because of her.

“Hey, don’t cry,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her into an embrace. She buried her face in his shoulder, taking deep breaths against his shirt to calm herself.

“What do you need me to do?” she finally asked.

Ted stepped back. “They want you to come in for a briefing and then we’ll go to the office with his wife to clear his desk. It will give me a chance to be shake some hands and be seen before our guy at the Telegraph gives a recommendation that compels them to hire me.”

“Alright,” Andromeda said. “Let me get cleaned up and dressed.”

“I know this is shit timing, what with everything that happened yesterday and—”

“It’s fine,” Andromeda said, and her mind went to the form she knew was Bellatrix standing behind Voldemort. The idea that her own blood was part of this group made her sick. “It’ll keep me busy.” Andromeda went into the bathroom to shower.

~❀~

Andromeda and Ted met Annabelle McKinnon and her two kids, Marlene and Michael, at the Ministry Headquarters to discuss the plan for Jimmy’s succession. The kids were pulled from their classes at Hogwarts and would go back after the funeral. Michael, who was thirteen, occasionally broke into silent tears throughout the course of their meeting, but Marlene was stoic, her expression far off. Annabelle was a mess.

After sharing enough information to make the cover story believable, they loaded into a van owned by the Ministry and drove down to the BBC’s London headquarters. Marlene and Andromeda sat in the middle row and Ted climbed into the back with Michael. Annabelle sat up front with their driver, Neil.

Ted knew Andromeda hated riding in automobiles, but it was always part of a cover story, and today it was no different. Ted and Michael briefly talked about Hufflepuff Quidditch, but Ted wasn't a big fan of the sport and it felt forced. They fell quiet just as Andromeda, sitting in front of him, forced a smile at Marlene. Marlene was a pretty girl with strawberry blonde hair and a heart-shaped face. She stared ahead at the back of her mother’s seat. Ted barely knew anything about the girl. He hadn't remembered her from school like Andromeda had. “So,” Andromeda said. “We’re fake sisters now. What should I know about you?”

Marlene shrugged. “I’m a Gryffindor. Of course you can’t tell the muggles that.”

Andromeda nodded. “No, I suppose you can’t. Do you have muggle hobbies?”

“I like football,” she said. “I played in a junior club before Hogwarts. Now I’m a chaser. Of course you can’t tell them you play Quidditch either.”

“I find if you can talk to them about football they generally don’t find you too strange or threatening,” Andromeda said. Ted and Andromeda had spent many an evening curled up on the sofa watching matches together. She still didn't know all the history that Ted knew, but she got as much into the games as he did these days.

Marlene raised an eyebrow. “You can chat football?”

“I’m not that much of a bookworm,” she realized that being only two years older and having been head girl, she probably had a reputation as a bit of a nerd.

“No, I mean, well… you’re a Black.”

Andromeda nodded her head back at Ted. “I had to do some studying,” she said.

"That's right," Ted said, leaning forward to join in. "I taught her everything she knows."

“Right,” Marlene glanced back at Ted with an odd smile forming on her lips.

Andromeda squinted and asked, “What?”

“I just… we… you were a hot topic at Hogwarts last semester. Gryffindor girls talked about it like it was the most romantic story in the universe. Those two clones that follow your sister around tried to wrestle power from the ice princess, but she defeated their coup.”

Ted didn't like Narcissa, and he didn't know her well, but he thought that it was probably the natural pecking order for her to be in charge. He knew _of _the other two, and he tried to picture those two airheads ever leading their group. Narcissa was shallow but she was Andromeda's sister. She had half a brain. The other two...

“How is she?” Andromeda asked. Ted was surprised for a moment, but he supposed as an only child that he could never really understand what that love was like. Narcissa had chosen their awful parents over her own sister. Ted hated her for it.

“As bitchy as ever,” Marlene said.

“Marlene,” Annabelle scolded.

“Mum, she’s horrid. She deserves it.”

“Language,” Annabelle said.

“And Sirius?” Andromeda asked. “Is anyone giving him a hard time about me?”

Marlene laughed. “You don’t have to worry about him. One of the Slytherins hexed his friend Peter, so Sirius, James Potter, and Remus Lupin broke into the Slytherin house and put hair removal cream in his shampoo.”

Ted and Andromeda both laughed. “Oh he’s a little devil when he wants to be,” Andromeda said.

"He's the one I like," Ted commented. "Decent bloke."

“He's an angel when his Professors are watching," Marlene said.

The van stopped. The Broadcasting House was a large building with a curved facade. A statue was set into the face of the building above three dark wood doors at the front. Everyone piled out of the car and entered in the front of the building. Annabelle spoke to someone at the front desk, and a minute later a man in an expensive suit came hurrying out of the elevator to meet them.

“It was a dreadful shock to us,” the man said. He hesitated and then he hugged Annabelle. Ted was sure they had probably met many times before. Jimmy was very important, after all. He was the face of the BBC. When he pulled away, the man sniffed and wiped his nose. “Michael, you’re going to be eight feet tall by the time you finish growing.”

He turned and looked at Andromeda and furrowed his brow. Ted let his wand slip out of his sleeve a little, catching the end in the palm of his hand. He was ready to obliviate if necessary. His training at Hogwarts was mostly concerned with erasing memories, but the ministry had taught him some spells to insert false memories too. He pictured Jimmy and this guy talking at a local pub over drinks and imagined Jimmy revealing his first child. The more clearly he imagined the memory, the more clearly it would form in the target's mind.

“Um, John, this is And- Andrea. She’s my step-daughter.”

“Oh,” John said.

Ted covered his mouth to cough and muttered an incantation, and a relaxed look fell over John’s face. He nodded. “Of course,” he said. “Of course, Jimmy talked so much about you.” Ted had only given him the one memory so far and knew John was just being polite, but he'd find opportunities to insert memories so that John wouldn't question his recollection down the line.

Andromeda extended her hand to shake his. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“When are you due?” he asked, gesturing at her stomach.

“May,” she said.

Annabelle put a hand on Andromeda’s back, and Ted saw her cringe a bit as she lied, “Jimmy was so excited to be a grandfather.”

“My grandkids are my greatest joy,” John said. “I’m so very sorry he missed it.” He gestured towards the elevator. “Shall we?”

As they turned towards the lift, Ted called up another mental picture of Andromeda in this lobby embracing Jimmy McKinnon and walking with him towards the door. He quietly muttered the incantation as Annabelle's voice filled the hall. It was good to have a group to cover because he had a lot of work to do.

~❀~

Andromeda held Ted’s hand as they made their way to Jimmy’s office. Ministry workers had infiltrated an hour before to add a framed photo of Andromeda and Ted to the space— one his parents had taken at Christmas.

They spent a few minutes more talking to John before he left. Ted stepped out into the hall with him, leaving Marlene, Annabelle, Michael, and Andromeda to pack the personal items in the office.

“I feel like such a tourist,” Andromeda said. “If you’d like I can excuse myself,” she offered.

“I…” Annabelle hesitated. “Don’t ever feel guilty. I knew what I signed up for.”

“If you need me to go…”

She nodded. “I’d like a moment if you don’t mind.

“Of course,” Andromeda said. She left the office, brushing past Ted while he talked to John about journalism.

Ted turned and caught her arm. “Are you okay?”

Andromeda nodded. “I just need to use the restroom.” Pregnancy was a great excuse to leave rooms.

“Oh, yes, of course,” John said. “Down the corridor on the left.”

Andromeda hid in the bathroom for as long as she could manage without drawing suspicion, and when she returned she stood outside with Ted until Annabelle finished packing. Both women knew what the job was, but Andromeda was determined to not make it any worse.

~❀~

After his pop-in at the BBC, Ted took the next day off. He stayed in with Andromeda all day. Ted only left to pick up takeout. They watched the telly and talked and napped, and at one point they defiantly made love, Andromeda becoming so aggressive that it was a bit unsettling (and also incredibly arousing) to Ted.

The next day was Saturday, and they had tickets to a Ballycastle match thanks to Steven. Ted was considering canceling, but he knew that he couldn't keep Andromeda locked away like a prisoner, so he put on a brave face and got dressed. Pyxis met them at their flat. She and Steven were dating now, and she came with news that because one of the Ballycastle players had lost a cousin in the attack that week, Steven was playing.

After the match (which they lost to Holyhead), the two couples went out for dinner. Things felt surprisingly normal, laughing and joking with Pyxis and Steven. It wasn't until they were home alone again that Ted remembered the shadow hanging over their world. He held Andromeda close that night and dreamed about starting a new life with her and the baby in Mexico.

Sunday when Andromeda declared she needed to run errands because her Diagon Alley run had been interrupted earlier that week, Ted agreed to go with her. The day was pleasantly uneventful. She cooked a big dinner and they watched Dr. Who. They spent the day adhering to an unspoken agreement to not talk about her family or the McKinnons or Voldemort.

On Monday Ted went back to work at the paper. The call came at mid-day. They wanted him to interview to fill the spot of the reporter who was being promoted to anchor at the BBC. Ted slipped into the bathroom and sent a patronus message off to Andromeda to let her know the plan was working. He thanked her for her help, and then he went back to his desk to get some work done. He had no reason to be nervous about the interview. The ministry would take care of things from here on out.


	24. The Ministry Ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted and Andromeda run into Bellatrix at a ball.

**Chapter Twenty-Four:  
The Ministry Ball**

Everything went according to plan. Ted’s resume was enchanted to make anyone who looked at it feel impressed. He was given a carefully balanced charisma potion before every interview that made his body emit a cloud of like-ability for an hour. Within two weeks Ted had a job as an on-air reporter for BBC News.

At the end of March, Ted and Andromeda bought a townhouse. Pyxis came over to help Andromeda decorate the nursery. There was no baby shower because Andromeda had no family left and they couldn’t mix Ted’s muggle and wizard friends, but Pyxis took Andromeda on a girl’s weekend in early April. They went shopping and ate ice cream and had facial treatments done.

During their shopping excursion, Andromeda and Pyxis picked out Andromeda’s robes for the upcoming Ministry Ball, an event that was held every year at the end of April to coincide with the anniversary of the formation of the government. Andromeda could not wear her wedding robes. Not only was the late April weather not suited for it, but the robes did not fit her at the moment. She picked a pair of flat shoes because she already waddled enough without adding heels, and Pyxis talked her into a glittering champagne colored robe with large splits in the upper sleeves that exposed her shoulders.

“Do I look like a disco ball?” Andromeda asked as Madam Malkin pinned the hemline of the sparkling robes.

“No, you look like a goddess,” Pyxis said. “A very pregnant goddess. This is weird.”

“The dress?”

“No, you. There’s a human being inside my best friend. How weird is that?”

“Not as strange as it is for me, the one incubating a tiny witch,” Andromeda said. She pressed her hand to her stomach and felt a tiny fist push back. “I’m thinking she’s a future pit-fighter. Or ninja. Who needs a wand when you can punch like this?”

“You look great,” Madam Malkin said through a mouthful of pins. “I don’t make ugly maternity gowns. Pregnant women should get to look great too.”

“It’s a beautiful dress,” Andromeda said. “I’m just feeling rather large these days.”

“Just because you’re enormous doesn’t mean you aren’t also gorgeous,” Pyxis said. “I should get pregnant just so I can have your boobs.”

“Pyxis,” Andromeda scolded. But she knew what Pyxis was referring to. Andromeda had been a modest B-cup before getting knocked up, and now she was a solid C. "I love Ted, but in an ideal world we'd have a few years of being newlyweds before..." she pointed to her belly.

Madam Malkin stepped away to greet someone at the front of the shop. Pyxis twisted her hair around her finger. "No, and I'm not anywhere near there with Steven yet." Andromeda knew what she meant. She was aware Steven and Pyxis were sleeping together, and it was an exclusive relationship, but they were on a much slower trajectory than Ted and Andromeda. They were taking their time.

Madam Malkin came back and added one last pin to the hem of the gown. "Alright," she said. "You can change, dear." Andromeda stepped off the pedestal and went into the changing booth to undress. She wondered, as she tried to remove the fabric without getting stuck by a pin, where she would be right now if she weren't pregnant. Would she have left home? She hoped she would have. Things had happened fast for Ted and Andromeda, but Andromeda had no regrets. Even with the added risk and fear, she couldn't be happier with her choices.

~❀~

Ted got a pass to arrive at the Ministry of Magic by the main entrance for the ball on account of his wife being in her third trimester. He wore the same robes from their wedding, and his hair was clipped short and neatly parted like he wore it on the telly as a field reporter. Ted showed his ministry ID at the door to the ballroom, a large room with warm wooden floors and a ceiling painting that depicted the magical world. He hadn't been in this room before, and he craned his neck to take it all in, from the centaur forest to the undersea scene at the edges complete with mermaids and kelpies. A witch and wizard at the center cast spells that swirled into a spiral and met at the mount to a large gold chandelier made of three hundred candlesticks.

Andromeda had whispered in the car ride over that she was nervous tonight. She expected to see familiar faces from her old life. Indeed, when Ted looked down from the ceiling, he noticed a few stares. Andromeda reverted to her practiced smile. Ted placed a hand on her lower back and held her close.

“You good?” he asked.

“I’m great,” she said.

They had an excellent dinner of Cornish game hens, field greens, and potatoes. It was hard to find drinks that weren’t alcoholic, so Andromeda stuck with water and Ted did the same in solidarity. The Department of Muggle Secrecy filled three tables. The Intelligence Division was placed with the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. Andromeda traded seats with Ted to sit next to Molly Weasley and they chatted about her nursery. 

As the main course was cleared and desserts came out, Andromeda grabbed Ted’s sleeve, interrupting his conversation about a secrecy method they called “wagging the dog.”

“What is it?” he asked, turning away from his neighbor at the table.

Andromeda used her eyes to point. Ted spotted a familiar face across the hall. It was Rodolphus. His father was on the Wizengamot, and Ted realized he must have given his seat at the ball to his son. That meant Bellatrix was here. “Is that…?”

She nodded.

“Do you want to go?”

“No,” she said. "Bellatrix is not going to have the satisfaction of driving me away. I belong here." Bellatrix was the one who didn’t belong here. Ted was a very important person at the ministry and Andromeda was part of that. Bella had merely married the son of someone important.

“Are you su—”

“Yes,” she snapped back. “Just…”

“Be aware?”

Andromeda nodded.

“Is something wrong?” Arthur Weasley asked.

“I just saw someone I don’t particularly want to run into,” Andromeda said. Ted glanced back at Rodolphus and saw Bellatrix returning to the table beside him. Her wild dark hair was pinned to the top of her head and she wore a dark red lipstick that made her skin look even more pale than usual. Her dress robes were forest green with a silver brocade pattern. 

“Ah, yes, these balls are full of people avoiding each other,” Arthur said, oblivious to the drama swirling around Andromeda and Ted. “You might be having a lovely waltz and then look over your partner’s shoulder and see someone you had charged last week for endangering muggles.”

Ted thought about her father’s collection and wondered if it would be petty to give Arthur a tip-off. He was sure Bellatrix and Rodolphus had their own collection. Andromeda had told him about the book Bellatrix had received upon their parents' return from Spain. It was one of the often forgotten details of that terrible afternoon.

Dessert came in the form of little petit fours. As soon as the last of her dessert was finished, Andromeda excused herself from the table, whispering in Ted's ear that Nymphadora was bouncing on her bladder. Waiters were come by to clear empty plates and he watched her dodge around a wizard about their age in a server’s costume and make her way to the bathroom. Ted didn't like Andromeda being away from him with Lestranges in the room, and he stole glances towards the door the entire time she was gone.

When she returned, the tables were cleared and people had moved to the dance floor. She met Ted on the perimeter, and he offered his hand. “May I have this dance?”

“Can you dance?” Andromeda asked. They had never had an opportunity to dance together.

“I can. Of course it’s all the basic muggle stuff. I don’t know if there are any traditional wizard dances I should know.”

“If they get to those, we can sit them out,” she said. “My feet are swollen and I won’t have many dances in me anyway.”

“Then I’ll be sure not to step on them,” he said. 

Ted lead her onto the floor. The enormous baby bump between them made things a bit awkward, but they adapted and made it work. When the song ended, Andromeda and Ted left the floor and joined a group of wizards that Ted knew from work. Ted kept his arm around her middle as he discussed renovations to the employee entrance of the building and how hard it was going to be to get into the office for any meetings on time. After a minute or two of idle banter, Andromeda stepped back from the circle and out of Ted’s grip. “I’m going to see if they’ve cleared my water glass. All of the servers on the floor seem to only have champagne.”

Ted kissed her on the cheek. “Come right back, yeah?”

“Of course,” she said. She slipped into the crowd, and Ted worried. He wondered if he'd ever get used to this feeling of unease, or if they'd ever feel truly safe again.

~❀~

Andromeda cast her eyes about the room as she walked back to the tables. She managed to locate Bellatrix and Rodolphus talking to an old wizard with a long salt and pepper mustache. Bellatrix locked eyes with Andromeda before she could look away. To Andromeda’s horror, Bella smiled. Andromeda hurried back to the table and sat. She took a few purposeful, deep breaths and picked up her water glass. She took a sip before someone snatched it out of her hands.

“What on ea—”

It was a round-faced witch with round cheeks and reddish brown hair. She had warm brown eyes, but her very friendly face was pressed into a serious expression. “I’m sorry, but I just watched someone put something in that.”

Andromeda felt it. A warmth spread through her body starting from her stomach. She should have been more concerned about the woman’s warning, but instead her mind wandered to a corridor at Hogwarts and a certain proposition. Oh why hadn’t she shagged Rabastan when she’d gotten the chance?

“Are you okay?” the woman asked. “Are you… hello?”

Andromeda got up and started walking towards the exit. Maybe if she begged him, he would take her back. She wanted to cry thinking about how badly she had messed things up with him. She could hardly remember why she had resisted him. He was so sexy and so smart. He was really quite perfect.

The round-faced witch followed her. “Hey, wait a moment. Where are you going?”

“I have to go see him,” Andromeda said. “There’s no time to lose.”

“Who— ahh… oh bloody hell,” she said. “Then you’re going the wrong way. He told me he wanted to meet you over here.”

“He did?” Andromeda turned and looked at the other woman. She was in her mid-twenties and held herself like she was more comfortable in trousers than fancy dresses.

“Yes, and you’re going to be late if you don’t hurry.” The witch grabbed Andromeda’s hand and pulled her through a nearby door into an empty hall. “Sorry,” she said before drawing her wand.

“Sorry for—” and then Andromeda froze. She felt light and soon she floated into the air like a buoy on water. The witch levitated her down a hall to a room and released the spell gently to lower Andromeda into a chair. She cast ropes around Andromeda’s wrists and ankles to tie her to the chair. Andromeda started fighting against them to no avail. “I have to see him. This will never work. You can’t keep us apart.”

“Mam,” she said. “You’ve been drugged with a love potion.” She cast a patronus, a little plump rabbit, and sent it off down the hall.

A moment later, a man came in the room behind her. He was around the same age with freckles and brown hair and a nice cleft chin. “Frank,” she said when he came in.

“What are you— why do you have a pregnant woman tied up, Prewett?”

“One of the servers tipped a love potion into her drink. I need to see if I can track him down and make an arrest, but I need you to go find whoever she came with and get an antidote.

Frank looked at Andromeda and back at the woman. “Ah, you know who this is, right?”

“No, I don’t.”

“This is Tonks’s wife. You know, the BBC guy.”

“This is Andromeda Black?” A realization dawned on her.

“Tonks,” Frank corrected. She shot him a warning look.

“Who do you need to go see, Andromeda?” Prewett asked.

“Rabastan!” Andromeda shouted. “And you’re going to let me go or I’ll—”

Frank waved his wand and Andromeda found her voice suddenly leave her. She tried to scream, but it was like her vocal chords were gone.

“Trust me,” Frank said, “You’ll thank me for stopping you from saying something you’ll regret.” Frank cast a patronus, a big friendly dog, and sent it out.

Prewett left the room after it. Frank undid the top button on his collar and stepped out into the hall to wait outside the door. Andromeda could see him waiting for someone. She struggled against her bonds again, but they were very secure.

Her mind went to the prefect’s bathroom at Hogwarts. What if she had taken up Rabastan’s offer? What if she had been a good girl and married him. They’d surely have been married by now and she could be at home in an enormous manor running her fingers through his thick black hair.

“Andromeda!” Ted called down the hall. Not him, she thought. Frank stepped out of view of the doorway and Andromeda heard the two men talking quietly outside. “Let me see her,” Ted said, his voice rising.

“I think it’s best to wait until we give her an antidote,” Frank said.

“I want to see my wife,” Ted demanded.

The door closed on its own, presumably the result of a spell. There was more shouting outside. Then the door opened and a scarred-up wizard with an eye patch came in. He was in his mid-forties and looked like he’d had a fight with a set of sentient kitchen knives at some point in his life. He didn’t say anything to Andromeda, he just grabbed her jaw, forced her head back, and squeezed her cheeks until her mouth opened enough to force feed her a potion.

The warmth from the love potion fled her body, leaving an icy chill over all of her limbs. She shivered, and when her mind went to Rabastan, she felt ill.

“That should do it,” he said.

Ted burst in the door. He fell on his knees in front of Andromeda.

“Why is she tied up?”

“I told you,” Frank said, annoyed, as he came in after Ted. “Love potion. She’s been bound and silenced for her own good. My partner has gone to try and apprehend the person she saw spike the drink.

Ted cast a general countercurse on Andromeda. There was a brief stinging as if she had a sore throat, and then Andromeda could speak. “Ted,” she gasped.

The man with the eyepatch released the ropes on her wrists and ankles.

“She was in love with Rabastan Lestrange,” Frank said.

“Your god damn family,” Ted said, his face turning red.

Andromeda threw her arms around Ted. He smelled amazing, and she wanted to take him home and shag away the memory of fantasizing about Rodolphus for even a few minutes. She was so angry that she considered breaking into Bellatrix and Rabastan’s house and shagging Ted in their bed.

“I’m not a violent man, but I swear to god—”

“Hey, don’t finish that thought in front of aurors,” Frank said.

Prewett came back into the room and shook her head. “No luck. He slipped out as soon as he did the deed.”

Ted pulled away from Andromeda. “Was it Rodolphus? Was he tall and thin with black hair?”

“No,” she said. “Short and ruddy with dark brown hair.”

“You need a bit of someone to make a love potion, right? They were clearly in kahoots.”

“Lestrange…” Prewett looked down at Andromeda, who hadn’t risen from the chair. “He’s connected to your family?”

“I was supposed to marry him until he got caught shagging a sixth year. It was an arranged thing. Voldemort said—”

“Voldemort?” The auror with the eye patch barked.

“Andromeda was at the Diagon Alley attack,” Ted said.

“I spoke to Robards,” Andromeda said. “Voldemort singled me out because I’m a blood traitor and implied they could still use me for pureblood breeding.”

“Well that’s revolting,” Prewett said. “I mean, not you, just the whole dehumanizing aspect…”

“He tried to use the imperius curse right there,” she said. “But then you folks showed up.”

“I read that in the reports,” eye patch said.

“I’m pretty sure Rabastan was there as well as my sister and her husband.”

“Bellatrix and Rodolphus are here tonight,” Ted said. “I’ll bet they had something to do with this.”

“Wait, you think your sister was a death eater?” Frank asked. “Did you tell—?”

“Yes,” Ted snapped. “She did. But Robards dismissed it as some family feud. The woman is insane. She tortured her own sister. Knew she was pregnant and used the cruciatus curse. Rabastan threatened her in a public place back in February. She reported her sister’s presence at a death eater attack to an auror, and they’re here walking around like life is great and they’re these upstanding members of wizarding society.”

“Robards is a tosser,” eye patch said. “Afraid to make a move on any tip unless he has an open-and-shut case.”

“And he’ll probably be head of the department some day,” Frank said. “Because he stays out of trouble.”

“Well a love potion tied to Lestrange will at least let us bring him in for questioning. But without the perp,” eye patch started.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get him,” Prewett said.

Andromeda stood up. Ted rushed to help her. “You had to stop me from doing something wholly regrettable.” She wondered what would have happened to her if she had gone to Rabastan. Would they have hurt Nymphadora?

“We should go home,” Ted said.

“I would like you to come fill out a statement tomorrow at the auror office,” Prewett said.

Andromeda nodded and then turned back to Ted. “Let’s go back into the ballroom and say goodbye.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, and her tone was firm. Ted seemed skeptical, but he nodded. “Okay.”

Andromeda and Ted made their way back into the ballroom. Andromeda spotted Bellatrix and Rodolphus almost immediately. They were at the bar getting drinks. Andromeda grabbed Ted’s hand and started walking, pulling him along. “Er, ‘Dromeda, where are we—” she stopped behind Bellatrix as she was accepting a drink and turned around. With one step her belly was right against Ted. She grabbed his face and pulled him down, kissing him desperately, her tongue pressing past his lips, attracting stares.

When she broke the kiss, her lipstick was smudged off on Ted’s mouth and he looked a little dazed. When she turned around, Bella was glaring. Andromeda smiled. “Oh,” she said. Andromeda knew Ted didn’t want to antagonize Bellatrix, but Andromeda didn’t think it made much of a difference as they wouldn’t leave her alone even when she laid low. “Bella, so good to see you.”

Bellatrix grimaced. “Andromeda, dear, how… you look about ready to pop.”

Andromeda knew her grin was forced and a bit manic, but she kept on smiling. “Yes, your niece is due in a few weeks.” Andromeda took Ted’s hand.

“You must be so proud,” Bellatrix replied.

“We’re over the moon,” Ted said, and Andromeda realized these might have been the first words her husband had ever exchanged with her sister.

Bellatrix’s pained grin faltered. Rodolphus, who was standing over her shoulder, glowered. Andromeda’s smile became a little more genuine seeing the disappointment on their faces. They had to know about the drugging attempt. They had to be screaming inside that their plans didn’t work. Other guests at the ball were pretending not to listen in, but Andromeda could see them watching through their peripheral vision, chatting quietly so they could hear the conversation. “You must be exhausted,” Bellatrix said. “Carrying all of that extra weight around.”

Andromeda remembered talking with Bellatrix months ago about trying to get pregnant. It was actually the day Andromeda realized that she was pregnant. If it hadn’t happened yet, she thought that must have put a strain on things between the Lestranges. Andromeda normally would never use infertility as a weapon, but Bellatrix had tortured her mercilessly just six months ago, so Andromeda would use whatever she could. “Yes, well, it’s a very fulfilling kind of tired. You’ll know some day,” she said, and she looked at Rodolphus. “When are you two planning on starting your family?”

“Soon,” he said, his mouth barely opening. He was incapable of feigning manners. Andromeda always thought he was the less-intelligent Lestrange brother. He had broader shoulders and a more powerful presence, but he wasn’t as charismatic or cunning as Rabastan. He was perfect for Bella to boss around.

“It was good to see you,” Andromeda said to Bellatrix, and then she made a very bold decision because she knew Bellatrix couldn’t hurt her here in front of all these people. She approached Bellatrix and hugged her. Bella stiffened. Andromeda laughed internally. She took a moment before pulling away to whisper in Bella’s ear. “You people don’t control me anymore. I’m going to go home and fuck my mudblood husband because your worldview is bullshit.”

Andromeda released Bellatrix and went back to her husband. Ted took her hand this time, standing protectively by her side. “Enjoy your evening,” he said to Rabastan and Bellatrix and turned to lead Andromeda out of the ballroom.

“What did you say to her?” Ted asked as soon as they were outside. It was a cool spring evening with a clear sky, but the smog of London made it hard to enjoy the weather. At this point in her pregnancy, even Floo was inadvisable, so he hailed a taxi.

“I told her I was going to shag you when we got home because she doesn’t run my life,” Andromeda said, choosing more tempered words than she had actually used with her sister.

“That was mental,” he said. “Why would you provoke her?”

“Whether I hide or flick her off, I’m still going to be targeted. She needed to know she’s wasting her energy.”

A cab pulled up and Ted opened the door to let her in. Andromeda awkwardly climbed into the back seat and scooted over so he could slide in next to her.

“Besides,” she said, once Ted had given the driver the address next to theirs— their new house was covered by a Fidelius Charm for which Steven was the secret keeper— “I do plan to shag your brains out when we get home.”

“Really?” he asked, a bit hesitant, a bit pleased.

“I can’t have a drink and I need something to de-stress after that train wreck.”

“I’m sorry your night was ruined.”

“I just need to feel you inside of me,” she said, lowering her voice so the driver wouldn’t feel awkward. “After that brief moment of insanity I need to blast all of that away with a mind-blowing orgasm.”

Ted placed a hand on her leg and squeezed her through the glittering fabric. “It’s getting a bit tricky to choreograph, but I think I can mange that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Revised 4/24/20 to reinsert scene that got accidentally cut from posting.


	25. The New Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda goes into labor.

**Chapter Twenty-Five:  
The New Beginning**

One Thursday night in May, after dining on takeout, Ted and Andromeda did the dishes together and settled in to watch a football match. Ted sat upright, his knees spread, arm around Andromeda. He'd worked at the station that day and since changed out of his suit into jeans and a t-shirt. Andromeda curled up against him and dozed intermittently. When she'd wake up, she'd ask what she missed. It was nice. It was comfortable.

As the match was wrapping up, however, Andromeda lurched into an upright position, her hand suddenly gripping her belly.

"What?" Ted asked, immediately becoming alert.

"Baby," she blurted. Her forehead tensed and she made a face that told Ted she was incredibly uncomfortable. After a minute she relaxed and breathed hard. "Holy... that bloody hurt."

"Yeah?" he asked, standing up. "Like how? Do we need to go to Mungo's?"

Andromeda nodded. "Yeah, that was... this is it."

_It._ Ted realized immediately what she meant, but he wasn't sure what to do. They had a plan. They had packed a bag. But for a moment everything he knew was gone from his brain and replaced with an internal panic.

"Er..." he looked around. Where was the bag even? They had time, he reminded himself. He took a deep breath. Her water hadn't broken. They could take their time. "Alright then," he said, remembering the plan finally. "I'll floo ahead and let them know we're coming. You go get in the car and I'll bring your bag. Do you need anything?"

"A hand," she said, reaching up to grab his wrist. Ted helped Andromeda get on her feet.

He was about to rush off, but he stopped to appreciate the moment, leaning over her extended belly and pressing his lips to her forehead. "I love you," he said, and a grin formed on his lips.

They stayed close for a moment, Ted's arms wrapped around Andromeda--the calm before the storm. And then, when the moment had passed, Andromeda started towards Ted's car and Ted ran to get everything ready.

~❀~

Thanks in part to Andromeda's petite frame, labor took thirteen hours. At the end of it, she was thoroughly exhausted and every inch of her hair was drenched in sweat. The healers showed her a healthy baby girl before taking her to be weighed and cleaned up, and Andromeda, who had not slept a wink all night, dozed until they came back to lay the infant in her arms.

"We did it," Andromeda said, half delirious from lack of sleep.

"Well, you did it," Ted said. "I watched and felt very sorry for you." He kissed her on the forehead and stroked the little curl of mousy brown hair on their daughter's forehead. "I was cheering for you the whole time."

After holding Nympadora for a while, Andromeda finally let the nurse take the baby and put her in a bassinet near the bed so she could sleep. Ted slept in a chair for a little while and then left to go home for a change of clothes. Andromeda slept that deep and complete sleep that came after a hard day's work.

She woke up when a nurse wheeled a meal in. She ate her chicken pot pie and then the nurse brought Nymphadora over to feed. She showed Andromeda how to coax the infant into taking her nipple and once Nymphadora had started to drink, she left Andromeda to have some privacy.

And then Narcissa stepped into the doorway. Andromeda couldn't believe her eyes at first. She hadn't heard a word from Narcissa since that terrible day at their parents' house, and Narcissa was supposed to be in school.

"Your husband sent a patronus to Sirius," Narcissa said quietly.

"Are you going to out him to our family?" Andromeda asked. His mother had no idea he was still corresponding with them.

"No," Narcissa said.

"I didn't expect to see you," Andromeda replied, readjusting her hold on her daughter. She wasn't sure if Narcissa had come in peace or not. Where was her wand? "You're supposed to be in the Great Hall right now."

"Sirius showed me a path out of the castle, past the apparation wards." She stepped closer to the bed, looking down her petite nose as if trying to casually catch a glimpse of the baby. "Is that my niece?"

"No, it's someone else's baby attached to my tit," she said. Andromeda knew she should be trying to extend an olive branch, but it was hard not to be bitter after being so coldly cut out of Narcissa's life. "Her name is Nymphadora."

"Like Nymphadora Kettlebean," Narcissa said with a slight smile.

Andromeda nodded. "Yeah. Ted thinks I'm mental, but muggles have such boring names. Like caveman grunts."

Narcissa stopped a few feet away from the bed, her hands folded together. Andromeda didn't know what to say to her. Unless Narcissa was willing to stand up to their parents, what was there to say?

"She's..." Narcissa trailed off and looked out the window for a moment. Andromeda just waited. "She's my niece," she said. "What can I do?"

Andromeda bit her lip. "That depends," she said. She let her focus drift for a moment to the odd tugging sensation at her breast and looked down at Nymphadora. After a minute she looked up. "Are you going to tell our mother and father that you're part of her life?"

Narcissa tensed. _Thought so,_ Andromeda thought.

"Unless you can be there, judgment free, this is it. I can't be sending her mixed signals. There is nothing wrong with who she is--nothing wrong with who her _father_ is. I frankly don't see how it would work, Cissy." It pained her to say this, but it was true. She had turned this over in her mind on sleepless nights. The most important person in the world now was Nymphadora Tonks, and as much as Andromeda missed her sister, she had to make the best choice for her daughter now. "Your soon-to-be husband would never approve and eventually she would ask how come her Malfoy cousins get to see their grandparents but she doesn't. And Merlin only knows what mother and father and Lucius will say that your children will hear and repeat. And Bella..."

"It could be our secret," Narcissa said, hopefully.

"I can't have someone in her life who's ashamed of her." Andromeda shook her head. "Have you thought of what Bellatrix will say if someone tells her you came to see me?"

"She's not that bad," Narcissa said.

Andromeda laughed. "She used the cruciatus curse on me to try and force a miscarriage. She tried to kidnap me just last month with a love potion _at the ministry ball."_

Narcissa's pale eyes widen with horror.

"Yeah," Andromeda went on, bitterness dripping from her voice now. "Our sister is a psychopath. She's one of Voldemort's most faithful servants. And she'd kill me if she got the chance. If you wanted to cut them out and stand up to Lucius, that would be one thing. But I know you, Cissy. And I know you won't."

Narcissa didn't argue there. Her eyes brimmed with tears, but she stayed silent.

"The world they want to create is not a good one. Do you really want your children to grow up in that place?"

"They'll be fine..." Narcissa said in a mouse's voice.

"Because their blood will be pure," Andromeda finished.

The two women just looked at each other, neither willing to yield or compromise. There was no compromise. A line had been drawn in the sand months ago when their mother and father had stood by and watched Bellatrix torture Andromeda. They both knew Narcissa was not going to cross that line, and Andromeda was much happier where she was, even if that meant losing her baby sister.

Finally Andromeda decided to be the one to end the silence. "Goodbye, Narcissa."

Narcissa opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a gasp before she spun on a heel and fled the room. Andromeda felt sadness bubble up inside of her chest and then she was sobbing. Nymphadora stirred, releasing her nipple and beginning to fuss. Andromeda covered her own mouth and stifled her tears. Her relationship with her sister had been dead for months, but this was the nail in the coffin. At least she had closure.

Andromeda was just gaining control of herself when Ted came in, a duffel bag in his hand. He saw the tears in her eyes and rushed over. "Hey," he said, stroking her hair. Andromeda wondered how terrible she looked.

"Narcissa was here," Andromeda choked out.

"What?" Ted was on high alert.

"It's okay. She just came to say goodbye." Andromeda looked down at Nymphadora. "She just finished eating," she said.

Ted bent down to take the baby. "C'mere Dora," he said softly. "Do you think she needs to be changed?"

Andromeda shrugged. She was tired again. Seeing Narcissa was emotionally draining, but her body had also been through an ordeal. "Do we smell her? Is that what we do?"

They spent the next few minutes checking her diaper and then changing her. When she was clean, Ted settled down in his chair and held Dora in his arms as she went to sleep. He looked like he wanted to say something serious, but thought better of it. Part of Andromeda knew she should ask, but she was so tired, so instead she decided it could wait and dozed.

When she woke, the lights were out except for a small lamp in the corner. Nymphadora was in her bassinet, and Ted was talking in hushed tones to two people over by the lamp.

"Ted?" Andromeda asked.

He was with a man and a woman, and when the woman turned around, Andromeda recognized her round face. It was the auror from the ministry ball. She nodded. "Congratulations," she said. "Sorry to wake you."

Andromeda sat up and reached for a glass of water. Ted came to her side. "'Dromeda, dear, this is Alice Prewitt and Frank Longbottom. They're aurors."

"Is everything alright?" Andromeda asked, looking at Dora's bassinet with concern crinkling her brow.

"Oh, yes, everything's... well... I mean on a world peace scale, no, but in here everything is fine," Frank said. "Sorry. Er--we were sent by Albus Dumbledore. We suspect your residence is under fidelius protection and we weren't sure how else to reach you, so when our ears here said you two had popped up at Mungo's, we came down."

"Why are you looking for us?" Andromeda asked. She took a sip of water and set it on the end table. "Is this about the ball?"

"Yes and no," Alice said.

"Dumbledore is concerned," Ted started. "He's concerned the ministry isn't doing enough about Voldemort. Thinks there might be loyal parties high up in the ministry slowing down the hunt."

"These attacks have been escalating for years and yet credible leads are followed up on too late. Some of our community... sympathize with his aims," Alice said.

Andromeda remembered the auror who wouldn't believe her tip about Bellatrix and the Lestranges. Maybe he was just hard-headed, but it would make sense if he was obstructing her report on purpose too. Her family was very well-connected. "And Dumbledore... Albus Dumbledore wants us why?"

"We're putting together a resistance," Frank said. "Off the books. People we can trust."

"Oh," Andromeda said.

"We thought, well, given your circumstances, you two were probably the last people who would be turncoats for the self-professed Dark Lord," Alice said.

"I think 'Dromeda and I need to talk about--"

"I want to do it," Andromeda said.

Ted looked startled by her sudden agreement. "Oh?"

"We've tried laying low. We've tried not to ruffle feathers. They're never going to leave us at peace. I'm in. A hundred percent."

Frank slid his hands into his pockets and nodded. "I'll pass the word on to Albus," he said. And then he thought again and looked at Ted. "If you're in, that is."

Ted shrugged. "I think Andromeda's going to help you lot whether I want her to or not, and I'm not the type of bloke to go around telling my wife what she can and cannot do, so I guess I'm going to help."

Alice smiled and looked at Andromeda. "Sounds like you got one of the good ones."

Andromeda nodded. "I did."

"Well, we'll let you rest," Frank said. "But, er, will you send Albus a patronus or something? Let him know how we can get in touch with you?"

Ted nodded and started walking them towards the door. "We will. We'll be home tomorrow and in a few days when we've recovered--"

"Right. Take care of the wee one first," Alice said. "Congrats again."

Alice and Frank left. Andromeda slid to the edge of the bed and got to her feet. She crossed to the bassinet to look in. Ted stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her middle before resting his chin on her shoulder.

And then Andromeda squinted in the light as she looked down at the new baby girl. Something wasn't right. "Ted," she said, cautiously. "Will you get the light?"

"Hmm?" Ted asked, standing up.

"Get the light," she repeated.

"Why? What's wrong?" he asked, panic on the edge of his voice.

"I think the baby's hair is pink."

**Author's Note:**

> Like this story? Follow me at @violasmart4 on Twitter and check out my books. www.violasmart.com
> 
> I write m/f and f/f romance.
> 
> (Will be 25 Chapters)
> 
> *On 11/9 story was updated to reintroduce a scene that accidentally got cut in Ao3 Posting!


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